Method and system for controlling and modifying driving behaviors

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a method and system for detecting, monitoring and/or controlling one or more of mobile services for a mobile communication device (also referred to herein as a Controllable Mobile Device or CMD), and in particular, when the device is being used and the vehicle, operated by the user of the device, is moving. In addition, one aspect of the invention generally relates to a method and system for modifying a user&#39;s driving behaviors, in particular to a system and method for modifying a user&#39;s unsafe driving behaviors, e.g., using one or more services of a controllable mobile device while driving, by providing a score to the user rating indicating that they are using a mobile device in a distracting way, or driving in a manner that indicates that they are distracted.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/334,184, filed on May 28, 2021 which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/477,536, filed on Apr. 3, 2017, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/139,698, filed Dec.23, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,615,213, which claims the benefit under 35U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/745,349filed Dec. 21, 2012, this application is also a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/612,748, filed Sep. 12, 2012, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,386,447, which claims the benefit under U.S.C. § 119(e)of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/533,358 filed Sep. 12,2011, which is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/841,077, filed Jul. 21, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,761,821,which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/267,064 filed Dec. 6, 2009 and which claimsthe benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/227,404 filed Jul. 21, 2009, each of theabove-identified applications being fully incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The invention generally relates to a method and system for modifying auser's driving behaviors, in particular to a system and method formodifying a user's unsafe driving behaviors, e.g., using one or moreservices of a controllable mobile device while driving, by providing ascore to the user rating indicating that they are using a mobile devicein a distracting way, or driving in a manner that indicates that theyare distracted.

Discussion of the Related Art

Mobile cellular phones have become the preferred communication devicefor most people around the world. They offer convenience, ease of use,communication flexibility, and extensive coverage almost anywhere aperson places or receives a call. Manufacturers of mobile phones (alsoreferred to as mobiles or cell phones) have diversified their productsto add color, style, and the ability to accessorize such phones as afashion statement. The power of communicating from anywhere, along withthese personalizations, has made cell phones as indispensable as theautomobile for most Americans.

In fact, the dependence on cell phones has changed the way most peoplecommunicate. Almost 20% of U.S. households have dropped their wiredlandline service and rely exclusively on their cell phone. People engagein cell phone conversations from restaurants, at the mall, at theairport, and while traveling between locations. It is this latersituation of use while traveling that has received a great deal ofattention over the past few years—more particularly, driving whiletalking on a cell phone. Sadly, many people are killed every year as aresult of someone driving while talking on a cell phone (or trying todial a number on a cell phone), becoming distracted, and causing anaccident.

Some studies have found that just listening on a cell phone whiledriving is significantly distracting to the human brain, and can causethe driver to make driving errors similar to those that can occur whileunder the influence of alcohol. In fact, in one study at Carnegie-MellonUniversity, the part of the brain associated with driving had a 37%decrease in brain function while a person was listening to aconversation and trying to understand the topics discussed and formulateresponse questions. This serious drop in cognitive awareness occurredregardless of whether the test subjects were using hand-held orhands-free mobile devices.

To reduce automobile accidents, over 50 countries around the world haveenacted laws which limit or ban cell phone use while driving. In theUnited States, 21 states have banned cell phone voice use by novice(typically teen) drivers and 5 have banned use for all drivers unless ahands-free device is used. Laws are also on the books in 17 states toban all cell phone use by school bus drivers.

As risky and dangerous as cell phone voice use is, the explodingpopularity of text messaging (also known as texting) in the past fewyears, has made texting while driving (TWD) an even greater risk. Arecent poll found that over 46% of teenage drivers admitted to textingwhile driving, with the actual rate probably higher than that. Becausetexting obviously involves the visual attention of the user's eyes toread a message and type in a message, the degree of distraction is fargreater. Local and national news outlets have sadly reported a steadystream of fatal accidents where the cause was texting while driving. Asa result, many state legislatures have banned or are discussing bans ofTWD. Fourteen states in the U.S. will have TWD bans for all drivers atall times in effect by the end of 2009, with 10 states banning textingfor novice (typically teen) drivers. Most states make these primaryoffenses.

While legislation is a good and necessary step to influence safe drivingbehavior and reduce accidents, it is not sufficient to prevent, orreally restrict, the incidents of distracted and dangerous driving whileusing a mobile device. Too many people continue to drive dangerouslydespite existing laws and the known dangers. What is needed is atechnical solution to reliably restrict mobile device services insituations that could cause danger to the user or other people. Further,the solution needs to make it difficult to circumvent or break thesolution itself. With the type of mobile devices expanding (cell phones,smart phones, Personal Digital Assistants {PDAs}, wireless computers,mobile digital TVs, etc.), and new wireless technologies emerging(cellular, WLAN, WiMAX, Whitespace, mobile DTV, etc.), and the types ofmobile services diversifying (voice, text, video, Internet, games, etc.)the need for a technical solution is even greater.

In an attempt to solve the risks of TWD, a variety of technologies haveemerged, or been proposed. One such technology, provided by a companyTextecution, www.textecution.com, provides an application for Androidphones wherein the technology disables the entire texting function whenit determines the mobile phone is moving at more than 10 miles per hour(mph), which is based on the GPS (Global Positioning System) capabilitybuilt-in to the phone. Another technology, identified by the nameKey2SafeDriving, http://safedrivingsystems.com, uses a specially designkey with a casing (also known as a fob) that surrounds the key. When thekey is flipped or slid open the fob sends a Bluetooth wireless signal tothe phone to disable the entire mobile phone. Similarly, a solution byObdEdge, http://www.cellcontrol.com, uses a module attached to a vehicleto send a Bluetooth signal directly to a mobile phone indicating thatthe car is moving, and in turn, software on the phone disables thephone.

A primary disadvantage of the above-identified technologies is that eachrelies on software within the mobile phone to disable the entire phoneor a specific service on the phone. The software in these technologieshas to be implemented for each specific mobile phone model, andtherefore isn't easily available on all phones. In addition, recentmalware attacks on mobile devices by hackers and organized criminalshave proven that software on mobile devices can be easily compromised.Such technologies that rely on software, within the phone itself, todisable the phone, are vulnerable to misuse. Further, some of thesetechnologies rely on wireless Bluetooth signals from a module in thevehicle to the mobile phone, which creates another point ofvulnerability. For example, a user could block the Bluetooth signal fromreaching the phone, and in turn, the phone would never receive theinstruction to turn itself off.

Another disadvantage of these technologies is that they tend to take anoverly broad approach to solving the problems of talking while driving,and/or texting while driving. These technologies are designed to detectmotion of the mobile (typically a speed above 5-10 miles per hour), andthen typically disable the entire mobile phone. They do not distinguishwhether the user of the mobile is in the driver's seat of a vehicle, orin the passenger seat, or the back seat, or a seat on a bus or train. Asa result they typically incorporate an over-ride to allow the user tobypass the blocking feature when they are a passenger. It is obviousthat this creates a significant limitation to blocking in that the usercan disable the block when they desire to text and drive. That is, suchtechnologies do not have a position detection mechanism, to operate inconjunction with a controller for activating/deactivating service (e.g.,texting) provided by a mobile, for determining where a mobile is locatedwithin a moving vehicle and then determining whether a service providedby the mobile should be disabled or enabled.

Consequently, a need exists for a method and system which detectsoperation of a vehicle, and controls specific services on one or moremobile phones (more generally, “mobile communication devices” or“wireless communication devices”), wherein the use of such services,while driving, can sufficiently distract a driver due to, e.g., thedriver viewing and/or composing one or more non-driving relatedcommunications via the mobile communication device so that there is asignificant decrease in driving safety. In particular, a need exists fora reliable network-based solution that monitors vehicle and mobiledevice status, and provides information regarding such statuses, alongwith subscriber service settings, to a network-based service provider tothereby control the services provided by the mobile communicationdevice. Such a network-based method and system can provide advantagesover other arrangements which exclusively rely on software in the mobilecommunication device (which could be compromised) and/or on a wirelessBluetooth connection directly to the device.

Furthermore, a need exists for a method and system which: (i) detectsthe physical position of one or more mobile communication devices withinthe vehicle, (ii) determines whether one or more of those devices arewithin a restricted zone (e.g., the driver's seat) of the vehicle, (iii)relays information regarding such a device within such a restricted zoneto a network-based database and server where alerts or reports can begenerated to the subscriber, and/or the restricted zone information maybe relayed to the service provider of the mobile device and in turn theservice provider may enable or disable one or more services on themobile device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the invention is directed to a method and system forcontrolling a mobile communication device in a vehicle thatsubstantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitationsand disadvantages of the related art.

Disclosed herein is a method and system for detecting, monitoring and/orcontrolling one or more of mobile services for a mobile communicationdevice (also referred to herein as a Controllable Mobile Device or CMD),and in particular, when the device is being used and the vehicle,operated by the user of the device, is moving. The present method andsystem (also referred to as a “mobile services control system” herein)determines whether the vehicle is being operated by a user that may alsohave access to a mobile communication device which, if used concurrentlywhile the vehicle is in operation, may lead to unsafe operation of thevehicle. If the mobile services control system determines that a vehicleoperator has potentially unsafe access to a mobile communication device,the mobile services control system may restrict operator access to oneor more services that would otherwise be available to the operator viathe mobile communication device.

In at least some embodiments of the mobile services control system, theposition of a mobile communication device within the vehicle isdetermined, and in particular, whether the mobile communication device(also referred to as merely a “mobile device” herein) is within arestricted zone of the vehicle, which may include, but is not limitedto, the driver's seat, areas near the driver's seat, other locationswithin the vehicle, or in some cases, the entire vehicle occupantenclosure. The present mobile services control system may be utilized torestrict mobile communication device access over any of a plurality ofwireless communication standards, protocols or wireless interfaces(including CDMA, WCDMA, TDMA, UMTS, GSM, GPRS, OFDMA, WiMAX, FLO TV,Mobile DTV, WLAN, and Bluetooth technologies), and may be providedacross multiple wireless network service providers. The present mobileservices control system may be used to restrict access to mobilecommunication device services (e.g., texting, voice calls, games,videos, Internet access, online books, etc.) on a plurality of mobilecommunication devices available within a single vehicle occupantenclosure. The ability of embodiments of the mobile services controlsystem to control access to services on one or more mobiles (e.g.,within a vehicle occupant enclosure) may be substantially facilitated bycentralizing or concentrating information related to subscribers to themobile services control system, wherein “subscribers” as used herein,unless explicitly indicated otherwise, refers to persons or entitiesthat contract for the user services provided by the mobile servicescontrol system (e.g., for restricting user access to certain mobileservices). The information that may be centralized or concentrated bythe mobile services control system include, e.g., subscriber relateddata for identifying: mobile(s) and/or mobile user(s) and/or vehicle(s)to which access to certain services on mobiles are to be restricted. Inparticular, in at least one embodiment, such centralization orconcentration of subscriber information may be provided and maintainedindependently of most wireless service providers. For example, suchcentralization or concentration of subscriber information may bemaintained and accessed via an Internet website, wherein such subscriberinformation may be accessed from a data management system which, inaddition to identifying the subscribers, contains operationalinformation about the mobile communication devices to be controlled bythe mobile services control system, and the subscriber vehicles and alsoconfigurable service control parameters for allowing, e.g., subscribersto configure the mobile services control system to meet their individualneeds and/or circumstances. In particular, the mobile services controlsystem provides a mechanism for transmitting data detected duringoperation of vehicles to the centralized data management system fordetermining any restrictions on mobile services to be activated ordeactivated. The present mobile services control system may also providesupport for the correlation of data from the one or more detectorsand/or sensors within the vehicle and the mobile communication device,with usage data from the service provider of the mobile communicationdevice. The correlated data may be used for, but is not limited to,reporting on the use of mobile services while the vehicle is moving,sending notification messages and/or alerts, and/or real-time control(enable/disable) of mobile services on the mobile communication device.Accordingly, embodiments of the mobile services control system describedherein provide one or more of the following features:

(a) The mobile services control system monitors and/or controls mobilecommunication device access to services while a corresponding registeredvehicle is in operation.

(b) The mobile services control system provides an in-vehicle VehicleDetection System (VDS) which includes a vehicle motion sensor todetermine the operational state of the vehicle, and may include adetection engine (e.g., a hardware/software configuration ofcomputational equipment) with one or more detectors and/or sensors todetermine the presence and identity of one or more Controllable MobileDevices (CMDs) within the vehicle and possibly to determine the positionof one or more CMDs within the vehicle.

(c) The mobile services control system may provide a centralized datastorage system (herein also referred to as a Safe Driving Database whichcontains, but is not limited to, (i) subscriber identity information,(ii) registration information identifying the Vehicle Detection System(VDS) for each subscriber's vehicle whose operation triggers activationof the mobile services control system for controlling a ControllableMobile Device (CMD) within the vehicle, (iii) registration informationidentifying the one or more CMDs, (iv) customizable service controlsettings, and (v) “vehicle plus mobile detected information” whichincludes, but is not limited to, vehicle operational status information(e.g., moving/not moving, possibly GPS position, etc.), the identity ofeach of one or more CMDs detected within the vehicle, possibly positioninformation for each of the one or more CMDs (e.g., in/out of therestricted zone, position relative to the restricted zone, etc.),possibly the boundary definition of the restricted zone within thevehicle, and other related vehicle or mobile state/position information.

(d) The mobile services control system may provide a centralized datamanagement system (herein also referred to as a Safe DrivingRegistration System or SDRS) with user interfaces for customers,administrators, and communication (wireless) service providers toconfigure data monitoring and service control settings, along withgenerating usage reports and alert messages, and for the SDRS to provideelectronic interfaces via which such service providers or other entitiesmay gain access to data contained in the Safe Driving Database.

(e) The mobile services control system may provide for the transmissionof vehicle operational status and mobile communication device positioninformation to the Safe Driving Database, either in real-time or with astore-forward mechanism.

(f) The mobile services control system may provide, for each vehicleoccupant enclosure being monitored, an in-vehicle VDS which candetermine the position of each Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) withinthe vehicle occupant enclosure relative to a predetermined restrictedzone, wherein the restricted zone may be any sub-area within the vehicleoccupant enclosure, or the entire vehicle occupant enclosure, and thenwirelessly transmit that restricted zone position information to theSafe Driving Database.

(g) The mobile services control system may provide and maintain data foreach monitored Controllable Mobile Device (CMD), wherein the data mayinclude one or more of: (i) a Mobile Device Air Identifier to identifythe CMD to the Vehicle Detection System (VDS), (ii) a wireless signalidentifier generated by the CMDs wireless signal, (iii) identificationof one or more mobile services or applications that may be controlled bythe mobile services control system. The mobile services control systemmay also provide: (i) a vehicle wireless network interface which mayconnect the CMD wirelessly to the VDS ii) a service provider wirelessnetwork interface which may connect it to a communication (wireless)service provider for communicating with the vehicle, and (iii) controlsoftware which may control the services or applications.

(h) The mobile services control system may provide a Service DecisionSystem in operation with the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS) toreceive the vehicle plus mobile detected information and to receiveinput service control parameters, where the Service Decision System mayfurther be operational to send realtime service control directives tothe wireless service provider for the mobile device or to the SDRS toenable or disable specific services for a specific CMD, or to enable todisable the CMD itself, wherein the Service Decision System or SDRS mayprovide an option for the subscriber of the mobile services controlsystem or the user of the CMD to temporarily override the control ofenabling or disabling services.

In at least some embodiments, the system described herein may be usedfor purposes beyond that of controlling mobile electronic devices. Forexample, the system described can be easily integrated into variousother commercial systems that involve a connection between a vehicle andthe internet or a cloud, such as systems that provide a connectionbetween a vehicle and a cloud to capture driving behaviors that arerelevant to the insurance industry (such as Usage Based Insurance), orconnections between commercial vehicles and the internet cloud wherevehicle and driver information is captured for safety and other businesspurposes. With subject invention can be integrated into these systems,so as to provide control of potentially distracting devices in thevehicles, or elements of the invention can be integrated into thesesystems to be able to identify individuals within the vehicle, oridentify the drivers of the vehicles, either by identifying that a CMDis within the vehicle through the techniques described herein, or byidentifying the driver of the vehicle throu the techniques describedherein. This information can then be used for various other commercialpurposes other than controlling potentially distracting electronicdevices, such as improving insurance company performance by knowing theidentity of drivers, or by association particular safe or unsafe drivingpractices with specific drivers, or for commercial customers,identifying the drivers of a vehicle and or identifying safe or unsafedriving practices of a specific driver.

In at least some embodiments, registered or associated CMDs are utilizedthat are associated to a specific VDS and therefore represent the CMDsthat are most likely to be used by a driver of the vehicle associatedwith the VDS. The use of registered CMDs (which is typically numberbetween 1 and 5, but in some instances can be greater) limits the numberof CMDs that are required to be determined to be in or out of a vehicle,and therefore significantly enhancing the functionality of the systemfor controlling mobile devices in vehicles. However, it is noted thatvarious aspects of the invention can be utilized with non-registered ornon-associated CMDs, or alternately a much larger populations of CMDsmight be associated or registered with a CMD (such as the CMDssubscribing to a particular MSDP, or the CMDs in a particular geographicarea may be registered to a specific CMD) to also enhance the system.

In one embodiment, the system can incorporate a reward forself-identifying the driver at the beginning of the trip through ahandset, or through scheduling thereby eliminating ambiguity if theindividual is driving, providing a more accurate score, creating thehabit of self-identifying at the beginning of the trip, and providingadditional accurate information for use by insurance companies and otherparties that are interested in knowing the identify of an individual whois driving. In addition, the self-identifying feature of theapplication, can incorporate other information to the driver, such asdriving information, route information, traffic information,motivational thought for the day, joke of the day, or similar typethings that incentivize the driver to stop and identify themselves priorto starting the trip.

In an embodiment, an aspect of the invention seeks to control unsafedriving by changing the behavior of drivers to lessen the occurrence ofunsafe driving events such as texting while driving, use of distractingfeatures of a mobile device while driving, speeding, swerving, hardcorners, e.g., greater than a predetermined threshold of acceleration,hard braking and acceleration, e.g., greater than a predeterminedthreshold of acceleration, lack of focus on driving, and lack ofanticipation while driving. An embodiment provides immediate feedback orsubstantially immediate feedback on safe driving habits (as indicated bylack of unsafe behaviors) formatted as a game or score, therebymotivating the driver to change driving behaviors through a desire towin the game, meet personal goals, meet team goals, and through tangibleand intangible rewards provided by doing well in the game, or byconsequences for unsafe driving, provided by parents, law enforcement,insurance companies, schools, or other organizations or individuals thatcan provide material consequences or rewards to the driver.

It is understood that this Summary section is neither intended to be,nor should be, construed as being representative of the full extent andscope of the present disclosure. Additional benefits, features andembodiments of the present disclosure are set forth in the attachedfigures and in the description herein below, and as described by theclaims. Accordingly, it should be understood that this Summary sectionmay not contain all of the aspects and embodiments claimed herein.

Additionally, the disclosure herein is not meant to be limiting orrestrictive in any manner. Moreover, the present disclosure is intendedto provide an understanding to those of ordinary skill in the art of oneor more representative embodiments supporting the claims. Thus, it isimportant that the claims be regarded as having a scope includingconstructions of various features of the present disclosure insofar asthey do not depart from the scope of the methods and apparatusesconsistent with the present disclosure (including the originally filedclaims). Moreover, the present disclosure is intended to encompass andinclude obvious improvements and modifications of the presentdisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 discloses a system diagram of an illustrative embodiment for asystem for controlling mobile devices in a moving vehicle's restrictedzone.

FIG. 2 discloses an illustrative functional block diagram of theControlled Mobile Device (CMD).

FIG. 3 discloses an illustrative functional block diagram of the VehicleDetection System (VDS).

FIG. 4 discloses a flowchart for the Vehicle Motion Sensor logic.

FIG. 5 discloses an illustrative functional block diagram of the SafeDriving Registration System (SDRS).

FIG. 6 discloses an illustrative functional block diagram of the ServiceDecision System.

FIG. 7 discloses a flowchart for the Service Decision Engine logic.

FIG. 8 discloses an illustrative layout of a single position detector ina vehicle.

FIG. 9 discloses an illustrative layout of multiple position detectorsin a vehicle.

FIG. 10 discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of theprocessing performed by the mobile services control system 10.

FIG. 11A discloses a system diagram of an illustrative embodiment for asystem for controlling mobile devices.

FIG. 11B discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

FIG. 12A discloses a system diagram of an illustrative embodiment for asystem for controlling mobile devices.

FIG. 12B discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

FIG. 13A discloses a system diagram of an illustrative embodiment for asystem for controlling mobile devices.

FIG. 13B discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

FIG. 14 discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

FIG. 15 discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

FIG. 16 discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to generate a score of agame according to an embodiment.

FIG. 17 discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to generate a score of agame according to an embodiment.

FIG. 18 discloses a simplified screen shot of an output of the systemaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 19 discloses a simplified screen shot of an output of the systemaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 20 discloses a simplified screen shot of an output of the systemaccording to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of thepresent disclosure, reference will now be made to the exemplaryembodiments illustrated in the drawing(s), and specific language will beused to describe the same.

Appearances of the phrases an “embodiment,” an “example,” or similarlanguage in this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to thesame embodiment, to different embodiments, or to one or more of thefigures. The features, functions, and the like described herein areconsidered to be able to be combined in whole or in part one withanother as the claims and/or art may direct, either directly orindirectly, implicitly or explicitly.

Functional units described in this specification may be labeled asmodules, in order to more particularly emphasize their structuralfeatures. A module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprisingcustom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors suchas logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A module mayalso be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as fieldprogrammable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logicdevices or the like. Modules may also be implemented in software forexecution by various types of processors. An identified module ofprogrammable or executable code may, for instance, comprise one or morephysical or logical blocks of computer instructions which may, forinstance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. Componentsof a module need not necessarily be physically located together, butmay, e.g., comprise disparate instructions stored in different locationswhich, when joined logically together, comprise the module and achievethe stated purpose for the module.

A module and/or a program of executable code may be a singleinstruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed overseveral different code segments, among different programs, and acrossseveral memory devices. Similarly, data or input for the execution ofsuch modules may be identified and illustrated herein as being anencoding of the modules, or being within modules, and may be embodied inany suitable form and organized within any suitable type of datastructure.

The various system components and/or modules discussed herein mayinclude one or more of the following: a host server or other computingsystems including a processor for processing digital data; a memorycoupled to the processor for storing digital data; an input digitizercoupled to the processor for inputting digital data; an applicationprogram stored in one or more machine data memories and accessible bythe processor for directing processing of digital data by the processor;a display device coupled to the processor and memory for displayinginformation derived from digital data processed by the processor; and aplurality of databases or data management systems.

The present disclosure may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, user interaction descriptions, optionalselections, various processing steps, and the like. It should beappreciated that such descriptions may be realized by any number ofhardware and/or software components configured to perform the functionsdescribed. Accordingly, to implement such descriptions, variousintegrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processingelements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like may be used,which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one ormore microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the present disclosure may be implemented with anyprogramming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL,assembler, PERL, Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, AJAX, extensiblemarkup language (XML), Flex, Flash, with the various algorithms beingimplemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes,routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted thatembodiments in the present disclosure may employ any number ofconventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, dataprocessing, network control, and the like as one skilled in the art willunderstand. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also includedetection or prevention of security issues using various techniques.Additionally, many of the functional units and/or modules herein may bedescribed as being “in communication” with other functional units and/ormodules. Being “in communication” refers to any manner and/or way inwhich functional units and/or modules, such as, but not limited to,computers, laptop computers, PDAs, modules, and other types of hardwareand/or software, may be in communication with each other. Somenon-limiting examples include communicating, sending, and/or receivingdata and metadata via: a network, a wireless network, software,instructions, circuitry, phone lines, Internet lines, satellite signals,electric signals, electrical and magnetic fields and/or pulses, and/orso forth.

Communication among the parties in accordance with the presentdisclosure may be accomplished through any suitable communicationchannels, such as, for example, a telephone network, an extranet, anintranet, Internet, point of interaction device (point of sale device,personal digital assistant, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), onlinecommunications, off-line communications, wireless communications,transponder communications, local area network (LAN), wide area network(WAN), networked or linked devices and/or the like. Moreover, althoughthe invention may be implemented with TCP/IP communications protocols,embodiments of the disclosure may also be implemented using IPX,Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or any number of existing or futureprotocols. Specific information related to the protocols, standards, andapplication software utilized in connection with the Internet isgenerally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not bedetailed herein. See, for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS ANDPROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999);DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997); and LOSHIN, TCP/IPCLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997), the contents of which are hereby incorporatedby reference.

As used herein, “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” “is,” “are,”“characterized by,” and grammatical equivalents thereof are inclusive oropen-ended terms that do not exclude additional unrecited elements ormethod steps unless explicitly stated otherwise.

In order to more fully appreciate the present disclosure and to provideadditional related features, the following references are incorporatedtherein by reference in their entirety:

(1) U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,486 by Tanaka et al. which discloses, atransmission restricting system which has a transmission interruptioncontrolling means for generating and radiating a magnetic field patternincluding a command code to command the transmission interruption to aradio communication terminal equipment in a radio-wavetransmission-prohibited area, the transmission interruption controllingmeans being disposed at the entrance or exit of the radio-wavetransmission-prohibited area; a transmission interruption releasingmeans for generating and radiating a magnetic field pattern including acommand code to command the releasing of transmission interruption tothe radio communication terminal equipment in the radio-wavetransmission-prohibited area, the transmission interruption releasingmeans being disposed at the entrance or exit of the radio-wavetransmission-prohibited area; and a radio communication terminalequipment comprising means for detecting a magnetic field patternincluding a command code to command the transmission interruption or thereleasing of transmission interruption, and means for controlling theprocess of the transmission interruption or the releasing oftransmission interruption according to the result of the detection ofthe detecting means.

(2) U.S. Pat. No. 6,353,778 by Brown which discloses, an automobilecomputer control system for limiting the usage of wireless telephones inmoving automobiles comprising an implementation for sensing when thevelocity of the automobile exceeds a predetermined velocity, a wirelessimplementation for sensing when the wireless telephone is in use by thedriver of the automobile and a function responsive to both of thesensing implementations for limiting the use of the wireless telephoneby the driver of the automobile when the velocity of the automobileexceeds the predetermined velocity. For the best safety, thepredetermined velocity is any moving velocity. Also, the wireless devicefor sensing when the velocity of the automobile exceeds a predeterminedvelocity may be carried out by an infrared device.

(3) U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,810 by Suzuki which discloses, a communicationinhibiting apparatus with: disturbing wave generating means forgenerating a disturbing wave signal which disturbs communications to andfrom a portable telephone or similar communication terminal equipment;and disturbing wave emitting means for emitting the signal generated bythe disturbing wave generating means, as the disturbing wave, to thecommunication terminal equipment.

(4) U.S. Pat. No. 6,690,940 by Brown et al. which discloses, a systemfor selectively disabling use of at least selected features of astand-alone electronic device under a predetermined set of conditions.The system establishes a state of the set of conditions as beingsatisfied or unsatisfied, communicates the state to the electronicdevice, and disables the selected features if the state is satisfied. Inone embodiment, the system may be advantageously be used to preventvehicular accidents by at least partially disabling non-emergency use ofa wireless telephone in a moving vehicle. In another embodiment, thesystem may be used to disable features of an electronic device within apredetermined area having a boundary that is independent of acommunications network cell.

(5) U.S. Pat. No. 6,973,333 by O'Neil which discloses restrictions onuse of a cellular telephone in a vehicle, such as an automobile, thatare imposed using a global position system (GPS) device to determine thelocation of a vehicle in relation to geographic regions in which legalor customer restrictions on cellular telephone use are to be imposed.Network or local short-range wireless transmitters supply information toa cellular telephone describing potentially applicable restrictioninformation retrieved from network databases. In response, a cellulartelephone determines applicability of such restrictions and applies themto further use of the cellular telephone while such restrictionscontinue to apply. Alternative arrangements allow vehicle-based ornetwork based processing of region and restrictions information to yieldcommand messages to cellular telephones.

(6) U.S. Pat. No. 7,064,656 by Belcher et al. which discloses acontroller to prevent access or utilization by a vehicle operator tocommunications devices installed on the vehicle when the vehicle is inmotion thereby reducing distractions of the operator.

(7) U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,058 by Inoguchi et al. which discloses a printerthat enables a determination whether a failure has occurred in a deviceduring initialization or a radio wave condition is bad. Receive electricfield strength during a time period from a time at which a turn-offmessage is outputted to a time at which turn-on message is outputted andreceive electric field strength after the turn-on message is outputtedare measured. The measurements are compared with each other andinformation indicating the condition of each of a plurality of channelsis printed out according to the results of the comparison. A user canreference the printed information to determine whether a failure hasoccurred in a device or the radio wave condition is bad.

(8) U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,229 by Singh et al which discloses a system fordisabling a cell phone in the presence of certain conditions, and forswitching it off in the presence of some other conditions, whileallowing its use in the normal fashion in the absence of these two setsof conditions. Thus, this system regulates cell phone use in accordancewith specified restrictions in specific locations, and allows its normalfunctioning when these restrictions are not required. Specifically, afirst condition is an attempt to operate a cell phone by the driver of avehicle having its ignition on and/or moving above a certain speed. Insuch a condition the system would automatically disable the OK switch ofa cell phone and may also perform the CALL END function. In the secondcondition the system automatically switches off any cell phone in the ONcondition being carried on the person of an individual occupying a seatin an aircraft, or a committee room, or any other such location wheresuch a restriction is envisaged. The system also makes a provision forautomatic sequential dialing of a specified set of numbers like thepolice, medical services etc. during an emergency by allowing overridingany regulatory restriction. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,229 alsorelates to control circuits provided in the system for preventingtampering with or bypassing the system by cell phone users.

(9) U.S. Pat. No. 7,206,615 by Ochi et al. which discloses a firsttransmitter that outputs a request signal requesting a response to amobile device toward an area including a driver's seat and itsneighborhood, and a second transmitter outputs a request signal towardan area covering the entire vehicle. The mobile device transmits aresponse signal to a receiver if receiving the request signaltransmitted from the first or second transmitter. The controller detectsthe position of the mobile device based on a communication resultbetween the mobile device and the receiver in response to the requestsignals transmitted from the first and second transmitters.

(10) U.S. Pat. No. 7,260,390 by Skinner et al. which discloses a panelprovided to a wireless device that turns off all RF capability of thewireless device (including, but not limited to notifications, wirelessweb clipping, instant messaging, email sending/receiving, phone calls,etc.). The panel is brought up on a screen of the wireless device bypressing a programmed hard button for more than 1 second. Once the RFcapability has been turned off, if the user attempts to access a programor other device that requires the RF capabilities, a notification isdisplayed that identifies the RF capabilities as being disabled andprompts the user whether to continue. If the user continues, the RFdevice is automatically enabled, otherwise the RF device remainsdisabled.

(11) U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,148 by O'Neil which discloses, restrictions onuse of a cellular telephone in a vehicle, such as an automobile, thatare imposed using a global position system (GPS) device to determine thelocation of a vehicle in relation to geographic regions in which legalor customer restrictions on cellular telephone use are to be imposed.Network or local short-range wireless transmitters supply information toa cellular telephone describing potentially applicable restrictioninformation retrieved from network databases. In response, a cellulartelephone determines applicability of such restrictions and applies themto further use of the cellular telephone while such restrictionscontinue to apply. Alternative arrangements allow vehicle-based ornetwork based processing of region and restrictions information to yieldcommand messages to cellular telephones to control their further use.

(12) U.S. Pat. No. 7,369,845 by Keohane et al. which discloses, aportable communication device that detects a current speed of travel ofthe portable communication device independent of any vehicle temporarilytransporting the portable communication device. A speed based settingcontroller of the portable communication device compares the currentspeed to at least one threshold value set at the portable communicationdevice. Responsive to the current speed exceeding the threshold value,the speed based setting controller automatically assigns a separatespeed based setting to a current setting for each feature assigned tothe threshold value, wherein each current setting for each featuredesignates the operability of that feature within the portablecommunication device, such that the current setting for each featureadjusts with a speed of travel as detected by the portable communicationdevice.

(13) U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,046 by Hossain et al., which discloses a methodand apparatus for enhancing the probability of a successful emergencycall completion and emergency callback on a mobile station in a network,the method comprising the steps of: during an emergency call attempt,monitoring whether the mobile station has received a non-voice servicerequest from the network and, if yes, ignoring the non-voice servicerequest, Further, during a callback period, monitoring whether themobile station has received a service request from the network and, ifyes, ignoring the service request if the service request is a non-voiceservice request that is anything but a position location servicerequest. Further, during a callback period, monitoring whether a userattempts to initiate a non-voice service request that is anything but aposition location service request, and if yes ignoring the non-voiceservice request.

(14) U.S. Pat. No. 7,400,891 by Aaron which discloses wireless terminalsthat are remotely controlled by identifying a wireless terminal that islocated at a premises and obtaining at least one operationalauthorization rule for the wireless terminal that was identified, andthat applies to the premises at which the wireless terminal is located.Selected operations of the wireless terminal are disabled and/or enabledin response to the at least one operational authorization rule that wasobtained for the wireless terminal that was identified and that appliesto the premises at which the wireless terminal is located.

(15) U.S. Pat. No. 7,471,929 by Fujioka et al. which discloses a deviceand a method for telephone countermeasure in using a telephone duringdriving which can automatically suppress communication of only a driverin a vehicle. [Means For Solving Problems] The device for telephonecountermeasure includes a database (3), a driver judgment unit, and amode switching unit. The database (3) contains driver face data (3-1)and a telephone number (3-2) of a mobile telephone (7) used by thedriver for each of the drivers. The driver judgment unit identifies thecurrent driver of the vehicle in the database (3) by the faceauthentication. The mode switching unit extracts the telephone number(3-2) of the mobile telephone (7) used by the identified driver from thedatabase (3) and switches the mobile telephone (7) of the driver to adrive mode such as a message recording mode by using the telephonenumber.

(16) U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,315 by Rathus et al. which discloses a methodand system that limits the use of a communication device present in anarea controlled by an intelligent controller. The intelligent controllerdetects any present communication devices in the area and conducts aninventory providing information about each detected device. Theintelligent controller compares that information to a standard of usedata, which specifies the conditions need to be present for allowing theusage of a communication device. If such conditions are not met, theintelligent controller sends commands to the communication device torestrict its functionality. Else if, the intelligent controller isincapable of restricting the communication device, it can notifyauthorities of unauthorized usage of a communication device in therestricted area.

(17) U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,101 by Pair et al. which discloses a systemthat uses a gps receiver and a computer program product to disable afeature of an electronic device when movement of the receiver isdetected. Speed data from a gps data stream is monitored. When the speedof the gps receiver exceeds a predetermined value, the desired featureof the electronic device is disabled. For example, when the speed of thegps receiver exceeds 0.5 knots, a windows function call is executed toset a desired display element as a top window on a display screen. Thesystem may allow for temporary enabling of disabled features and forrapid enabling of disabled features when motion stops. The system mayalso include navigational software. A manufacturer may also use aproprietary combination of one or more disabled data fields in a gpsdata stream to identify gps receivers approved for use with the system.

(18) U.S. Pat. No. 7,474,264 by Bolduc et al. which discloses a systemand method for detecting use of RF transmit devices (e.g., cellularphones) in a vehicle. The system includes a first RF antenna fordetecting signal strength of an RF signals transmit device at a firstlocation in a vehicle and a power first detector for generating a firstoutput signal indicative thereof. The system also includes a secondantenna for detecting signal strength of the RF signals at a secondlocation in the vehicle and a second power detector for generating asecond output signal indicative thereof. The system further includes asignal processor for processing the first and second output signals todetermine the presence of an RF transmit device in use in the vehicleand to further determine the location of the RF transmit device todetermine if a driver is using the device.

(19) U.S. Pat. No. 7,477,135 by Belcher et al. which discloses an access(utilization) controller to restrict or block visual or auralinteraction between a vehicle operator/driver and mobile communicationsand information devices such as computers, mobile telephones, pagers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), and the like mounted on or used inthe vehicle is disclosed. The utilization controller comprises sensorsto detect motion or “potential” motion of the vehicle, a processorreceiving data from the sensors and inhibitor means responsive to theprocessor to “blank out” or otherwise inhibit any distracting visual oraural output from the communications or information devices while thevehicle is in motion or about to move. The sensor data such asspeedometer, transmission gear position indicator, antilock brakes andothers are extracted from a vehicle's internal monitoring and controlsystems.

(20) U.S. Pat. No. 7,619,507 by Santos et al. which discloses aspectsthat provide a system and method for receiving information in a vehicle.Information pertaining to the vehicle's driver may be stored.Information pertaining to the vehicle's driver may be made audilethrough the vehicle's radio system.

(21) U.S. Patent No. 2002/0198005 by Hilton et al. which discloses, alogic based control system to modify and improve operations of wirelesscommunications devices and the operating systems of a plurality ofportable wireless communications devices by continuously, selectivelyand automatically controlling, enabling and/or disabling access to thetransmission and reception of portable wireless communication devicesdepending on the factors of velocity, location and/or time of thewireless communication device, while continually enabling access toemergency communications at any time, location and/or velocity.

(22) U.S. Patent No. 2005/0170850 by Edwards et al. which discloses, themethods and apparatuses for selectively disabling functionality of adevice detect a device; detecting a device type of the device; andtransmitting a signal to the device for selectively disabling a functionof the device based on the device type.

(23) U.S. Patent No. 2005/0184860 by Taruki, which discloses a portableinformation terminal controlling system comprising thedetector-transmitter and the cellular phone. The detector-transmitterincludes the automobile moving state detecting unit and the controlinformation transmitting unit. The cellular phone includes the functioncontrolling unit, the transmitter-receiver, the display and the controlunit. When the detector-transmitter detects that an automobile ismoving, the detector-transmitter sends control information to a functioncontrolling unit. When the detector-transmitter detects that anautomobile is moving, the function controlling unit limits a part of adisplay function and a communication function of a portable informationterminal, or limits all functions of the portable information terminal,and makes the portable information terminal be in a difficult state touse by giving an instruction to the control unit. Judgment of thedriver's use of the portable information terminal is performed based ona signal arriving time and signal strength between thedetector-transmitter and the function controlling unit, or an imageextract with a camera included in the detector-transmitter.

(24) U.S. Patent No. 2005/0255874 by Stewart-Baxter et al. whichdiscloses a system and method for detecting motion of a cell phone anddisabling the use of the cell phone while moving or driving. Theinventive system includes: a cell phone; a sensor to detect motion ofthe cell phone; software in the cell phone to disable the use of thecell phone when motion is detected. In a preferred embodiment, thesystem also recognizes the near proximity of an automobile and disablesthe use of the cell phone in this near proximity.

(25) U.S. Patent No. 2006/0099940 by Pfleging et al. which discloses amethod for changing the status of a mobile apparatus based upon thevelocity of the mobile apparatus. The communication system determinesthe velocity of a mobile apparatus by calculating the difference betweena first position of a mobile apparatus at a first time and a secondposition of the mobile apparatus at a second time. If the velocity ofthe mobile apparatus exceeds a predetermined threshold, thecommunication system changes the status of the mobile apparatus to asleep state and ends a call that the mobile apparatus is involved in.

(26) U.S. Patent No. 2007/0072616 by Irani which discloses, a method forpreventing cellular phone usage while driving. In one embodiment a GPSsystem incorporated into the workings of the cellular phone is used todetect that the phone is in motion, and that the rate of movementexceeds some preset value indicating that the phone is in a movingvehicle. Having detected motion the phone will deliver a number ofoptions ranging from complete shutdown until motion stops, to use onlyfor emergency purposes, to only limited use, or to complete use byinterjecting a preset PIN or other such password which will allow thecellular phone user to override the phone shutdown mechanism. Otheralternate means for detecting motion include triangulation betweennumerous towers, to signal strength variation from a single tower, tosignals generated by miniature accelerometers and velocity metersimbedded in the phone specifically for detecting rate of movement.

(27) U.S. Patent No. 2008/0139183 by Keohane et al. which discloses, aportable communication device that detects a current speed of travel ofthe portable communication device independent of any vehicle temporarilytransporting the portable communication device. A speed based settingcontroller of the portable communication device compares the currentspeed to at least one threshold value set at the portable communicationdevice. Responsive to the current speed exceeding the threshold value,the speed based setting controller automatically assigns a separatespeed based setting to a current setting for each feature assigned tothe threshold value, wherein each current setting for each featuredesignates the operability of that feature within the portablecommunication device, such that the current setting for each featureadjusts with a speed of travel as detected by the portable communicationdevice.

(28) U.S. Patent No. 2008/0214211 by Lipovski which discloses, a systemfor selectively restricting or enabling the use of a cellular telephonemodule in a zone is described, comprising: a control signal transmitterfor generating a control signal at an entrance to the zone oralternatively generating control signals throughout the zone; thecellular telephone including a module; a receiver module within thecellular telephone responsive to the control signal for generating amodule enable/restrict upon receipt of the control signal; and a switchwithin the cellular telephone responsive to the module enable/restrictfor selectively enabling or inhibiting the operation of the module for apredetermined period of time after receipt of the control signal.Additionally, this system's cellular telephone can dial a telephone,send a message to it, receive a text message from it, and send digits toit, to handle emergencies or conduct business. Finally, the system canremind owners to recharge their cellular telephone batteries.

(29) U.S. Patent No. 2009/0004968 by Miyake which discloses anin-vehicle apparatus that determines in the vicinity the presence of aportable terminal designated with a device requiring restriction onradio transmission as a device name thereof. Radio transmission from acellular phone is thereby restricted. In contrast, when determining inthe vicinity the absence of the portable terminal designated with adevice requiring restriction on radio transmission, the restriction onradio transmission from the cellular phone is removed. In the event of aperson with a cardiac pacemaker getting on the vehicle, if the personcarries a portable terminal designated with a device requiringrestriction on radio transmission as a device name, the concern of theperson about a possibility that the cellular phone has a bad influenceon the cardiac pacemaker can be prevented.

(30) U.S. Patent No. 2009/0029675 by Steinmetz, et al. which discloses,a safety device for automotive vehicles (cars, buses and trucks) or raillocomotives. The device inhibits use of cellular telephones and othercommunication devices that run the risk of distracting a driver/operatorwhile the vehicle is in motion. Several techniques for inhibiting useare described which can be used individually or in a complementarycombinations. In one technique, a rapidly varying signal level iscreated local to the communication device. The variations exceed theoperational limits of the system, thereby inhibiting communications. Inanother technique, the safety device emits radiation that interfereswith the reception of signals by the communication device only withinthe interior of the vehicle and will not interfere with cell phones orwireless devises outside the automotive vehicle or rail locomotive. Asanother alternative, masking signals also may be generated to preventsignals sent by the communication device within the vehicle from beingintelligible at receiving stations outside the vehicle.

(31) U.S. Patent No. 2009/00895744 by Sellin et al. which discloses, asystem for controlling access to a network includes a wireless switchconfigured for radio frequency communication with a mobile unitassociated with a radio frequency identification tag. The wirelessswitch is adapted for determining if a radio frequency identificationtag is located within a first area, and enabling the mobile unit toaccess the network according to a first scheme if the mobile unit islocated within the first area.

(32) U.S. Patent No. 2009/0111422 by Bremer et al. which discloses,control systems and methods that are provided for controlling a personalcommunication device (PCD), such as a wireless telephone, personal dataassistant (PDA), etc. The control systems and methods enable thecontrolled PCD (CPCD): (1) to determine (a) CPCD motion (speed,acceleration, or both) and/or (b) geographical location and (2) to (a)modify (enable, disable, and/or otherwise change) one or more CPCDfunctions based at least in part on the CPCD motion and/or geographicallocation and/or (b) communicate an alert (locally and/or to a remotecommunication device). The control of CPCD functions and alerts may alsobe dependent on other factors, such as the laws of the authoritativelegal jurisdiction wherein the CPCD is located. The operation of thefollowing CPCD functions can be modified, as nonlimiting examples:keypad, image display, microphone, speaker, camera, voice call out,voice call answer, text message creation, text message transmission,text message reception, email creation, email reception, image creation,image reception, Internet browsing, gaming, ring signal operation,communication signal transmission, and communication signal reception.

It is of great national importance to change the behavior of drivers sothat distracted driving, such as using on or more services of a mobiledevice while driving is lessened, thereby promoting safe drivingbehavior. Legislation is failing to change behavior, and systems theonly control texting are also not changing the behavior of the majorityof the population also the current techniques are perceived as overlyintrusive, and impinging on rights. Thereby, hastening the adoptions ofthe same.

Embodiments of the invention are directed towards a subject behaviormodification method and system that provides a system that rewards thedriver, both with intangible and tangible rewards the driver is bothmotivated to adopt the system and also then motivated to change theirbehavior. In one embodiment, intangible rewards may include a score orongoing ranking on a social media site or communicated over some othernetwork. Moreover, a tangible reward may include an economic incentive,e.g., a reduction in an insurance premium. By incorporating elementsthat reward other safe driving behaviors, such as staying within thespeed limit, not swerving and not abruptly stopping, the system is alsoable to broaden the behavior modification to a larger suite ofbehaviors, so that the improvement goes beyond distracted driving, toactually creating safe drivers in multiple respects.

The system can incorporates both gamification and incentification, whichhave proven to be effective in changing behaviors in multiple domains,for instance skiing behaviors through the Epic Mix program, used by VailAssociates, to provide reward for skiers for the amount, and type ofskiing they do.

An embodiment, combines elements such as distracted driving controlsystems, distracted driving reporting systems, measurement of vehiclecharacteristics indicating safe or unsafe behavior, indication ofwhether any of these systems have been overridden, and the ability toprovide real time feedback and incentives (at the end of a trip).Thereby, the motivation to change behavior is powerful.

In an embodiment, reward for behavior changes or to motivate behaviorchange can include a number of different type of awards, e.g.,intangible awards, tangible awards, combinations of the same and thelike. Intangble awards or elements include, e.g., earning of badges,personal scores, team scores, competitors scores, leader boards,recognition on social media such as facebook twitter, publicacknowledgement as a safe driver, other form of networked communication,combinations of the same and the like. In addition, competition can beused as a tangible award, for instance with individuals, corporations,family members, or other groups competing against one another todetermine who has the safest driver population, such as cities competingagainst one another. In addition, the tangible rewards can be used incombination or in separate form intangible rewards. The tangible rewardscan also include economic incentives, e.g., cash incentives provided forsafe driving, insurance discounts, discounts on purchased (such asgasoline, food or other goods), discounts on other products of value tothe driver such as discounts on beverages, or phone service providerservice, or insurance, or food items, or hard goods such as clothing,that are provided by corporate partners to the program that recognizecorporate reward for supporting social issues, brand halo effects, andfrom incentivizing individuals to go to their store and purchase an itemfor a discount.

The ability to provide feedback at the end of a trip as to theparticular trip score and ultimate score, as well as the ability toidentify the location at the end of the trip, allows instantgratification tie-ins to further drive behavior modification, such as atthe end of the trip, when the score is provided, a map is presentedshowing nearby locations that will provide discounts, at that moment forsafe drivers, for instance a coffee shop that is within a closedistance, e.g., quarter mile, that will discount the price of abeverage, e.g., by 50%, if the arrive in the next period of time,including the ability for the discount to be increased if the score ofthe driver is increased.

These incentives can also be chosen by the driver to be things of valueto them, for instance, they might choose from a list of possibleincentives, to create a shorter list of the things that highlyincentivize them, such as choosing a discount at high profile brandstore such as Nike or Ambercrombie and Fitch, or choosing a gasdiscount. Thereby, further incentivizing the driver.

As a further incentive, the system can incorporate a multiplier feature,so that as the driver completes a certain number of safe drive sequencesin a row, e.g., a greater award, the reward multiplies, creating anadditional powerful incentive to continue to drive safely.

In a preferred embodiment, the system permits or enables bothcontrolling a distracted driving and/or reporting on distracted driving.In an embodiment, the system is configured to monitor whether a mobiledevice is in use, or monitor if the system has been overridden ordefeated, or if the system is not in use but the driver still useddistracting features on the phone, and then penalizing the driver bylimiting points gained, or taking points away, a powerful incentive iscreated to prevent distracted driving behavior. Further, by utilizingembodiments described herein the system can determine who is in thevehicle, as well as who is actually driving the vehicle, thereby theaccuracy of the system is increased, reducing false positive and falsenegatives, so as to further incentivize the driver, as they are notbeing falsely penalized, or falsely rewarded.

In an embodiment, a record of a driver's performance, e.g., including ascore, can provide the basis for additional tangible benefits, byproviding a metric by with the individual can be rewarded directly byorganizations, or by the parents, for instance the parents can provide afinancial reward if a driver exceeds a certain number in a certainperiod, or a company can provide a reward in vacation, or pay, or othergifts if an employee exceeds a certain point score in a certain period.In addition, a third-party, e.g., an insurance company can provide areward or a discount on insurance rates, if drivers exceed a certainscore, or they can provide discounted rates to new insureds, if a driverexceeds a certain score, providing an additional incentive for insurancecompanies to adopt such a system.

In an embodiment, drivers programs can adopt such a system, schools canadopt the system, federal government, and/or states can legislate such asystem as part of a Graduated License Program, so that it becomesmandatory for a new driver, with the rewards of the system supportingthe adoption of the system.

In one embodiment, the system can incorporate a reward forself-identifying the driver at the beginning of the trip through ahandset, or through scheduling thereby eliminating ambiguity if theindividual is driving, providing a more accurate score, creating thehabit of self-identifying at the beginning of the trip, and providingadditional accurate information for use by insurance companies and otherparties that are interested in knowing the identify of an individual whois driving. In addition, the self-identifying feature of theapplication, can incorporate other information to the driver, such asdriving information, route information, traffic information,motivational thought for the day, joke of the day, or similar typethings that incentivize the driver to stop and identify themselves priorto starting the trip.

In an embodiment, an aspect of the invention seeks to control unsafedriving by changing the behavior of drivers to lessen the occurrence ofunsafe driving events such as texting while driving, use of distractingfeatures of a mobile device while driving, speeding, swerving, hardcorners, e.g., greater than a predetermined threshold of gravity force,hard breaking and accelerating, e.g., greater than a predeterminedthreshold of gravity force, lack of focus on driving, and lack ofanticipation while driving. An embodiments provides immediate feedbackor substantially immediate feedback on safe driving habits (as indicatedby lack of unsafe behaviors) formatted as a game or score, therebymotivating the driver to change driving behaviors through a desire towin the game, meet personal goals, meet team goals, and through tangibleand intangible rewards provided by doing well in the game, or byconsequences for unsafe driving, provided by parents, law enforcement,insurance companies, schools, or other organizations or individuals thatcan provide material consequences or rewards to the driver.

In one embodiment, a mobile services control system for generating ascore based on driving events. The system is configured to preventunsafe driving, distracted driving, and/or change unsafe drivingbehavior of a user of the controllable mobile device. The systemoptionally includes an in-vehicle detection system and computationalequipment. The computation equipment may reside in the cloud, partiallywithin the cloud, and/or network. The in-vehicle detection system isconfigured to determine one or more characteristics of a vehicleindicative of the vehicle being operated by a user, e.g., key on,movement of vehicle, acceleration, combinations of the same and thelike. The computational equipment is configured to generate the scorebased on a first input indicative of whether a controllable mobiledevice is within the vehicle when the vehicle is in operation, a secondinput comprising the one or more characteristics indicative of thevehicle being operated by a user, and a third input indicative of one ormore of a use of the controllable mobile device, a use of the systemthat prevents unsafe use of the controllable mobile device, overridingthe system that prevents unsafe use of the controllable mobile device,and unsafe driving events. Alternatively and/or optionally, the systemcan be configured to restrict one or more services of the controllablemobile device, report and monitor on the same.

In one embodiment, the use of the controllable mobile device includesany use, e.g., including but not limited to moving the phone, whetherthe phone is on or off, reviewing text message, typing a text message,sending a text message, reviewing an email message, typing a textmessage, sending an email, playing a game, viewing a video, andinformation provided via the Internet. In one embodiment, the score mayinclude rewards, discounts and/or be indicative of a driving behavior ofthe user, e.g., may include one or more of a number of hard corners, anumber of hard brakes, a number of overrides, a number of perfectsegments, a number of perfect miles, over maximum velocity, over speedlimit, miles driven, segments driven and other non-game data.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of the mobile services controlsystem 10. The system 10 includes the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30which detects the operational status of a vehicle 15 and may also detectthe identity and presence of one or more Controllable Mobile Devices(CMD) 25 within the vehicle, and also may detect the position of the oneor more CMDs 25 within the vehicle occupant enclosure 20 (e.g., thepassenger seating compartment of the vehicle wherein the driver oroperator also resides). The Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 providesa person with access to one or more of a plurality of data and/orcommunication services, also often called “applications.” The CMD 25 (asdetailed below in FIG. 2 ) is typically made operable by a subscribercontracting with a communication service provider (e.g., a wirelesscarrier) for obtaining wireless communication services. The subscribermay be an individual person, a parent in a family, a business, or anyperson who wants the services offered to the CMD 25. These types ofpeople may also be an actual user of the CMD 25, or the actual user tobe a different person from the subscriber. For example, a parent may bea subscriber for providing communication services to a CMD 25 for one ofthe parent's teenagers who drives a family vehicle. Alternately, abusiness (the subscriber) may contract with a wireless carrier toprovide communication services to a CMD 25 for one of their employeeswho drives a company vehicle, as in a transportation vehicle like a bus,or a delivery vehicle, or another type of company-owned vehicle.

The Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 provides the user of the CMDwith communication services (e.g., voice, text messaging, email,Internet access, gaming, video, and other services) via a wirelessconnection 50 through a wireless network 45 from a Mobile Device ServiceProvider (MDSP) 130 (e.g., a cellular or WiMAX wireless carrier). TheMDSP 130 is operational to enable or disable services provided to eachCMD 25 and records each instance a user uses a service in a mobile usagedatabase 135.

In addition to the plurality of services available through aControllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25, the CMD may also provide a uniqueidentification capability which can be detected over-the-air from one ormore position detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39 (three are shown inFIG. 1 ) generally positioned in or around the vehicle occupantenclosure 20. The one or more position detectors and/or sensors 37, 38,39 may be provided as part of the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 asdetailed below in FIG. 3 . Each of the position detectors 37, 38, 39 hasa unique identifier which can be detected over-the-air to verify thatdetector is still present at the location it was installed. Further, theVDS 35 includes a motion sensing capability to determine when thevehicle 15 is moving and may also include a detection engine 300 (FIG. 3) to combine position information from the one or more detectors and/orsensors 37, 38, 39 to assist in determining the position of the CMD 25within the vehicle 15. The VDS 30 may also be operational to detect theposition of one or more CMDs 25 simultaneously.

In one embodiment of the mobile services control system 10, the VehicleDetection System (VDS) 30 is operational to send data, via wirelesssignal 65, to a wireless network 60 (which may or may not be identicalto the network 45), and subsequently to Vehicle Service Provider (VSP)100 also included as part of the system 10 in at least some embodimentsthereof. The VSP 100 may be provided by a network/service operator(wireless carrier) which (via the wireless network 60) provides a mobile(wireless) data connection to a plurality of VDSs 30 in a plurality ofvehicles 15. Alternatively, the VSP 100 may not be operated by thewireless carrier operating the network 60, and instead is, e.g.,operated by an entity that operates the mobile services control system10. The VDS 30 may physically be located in various positions within thevehicle 15, including, but not limited to, entirely within the vehicleoccupant enclosure 20 (e.g., under the dashboard), or entirely outsideof the vehicle occupant enclosure 20 (e.g., in the engine or trunkcompartments), or partially within and partially outside the vehicleoccupant enclosure 20 (e.g., with the VDS base unit 35 under thedashboard and the one or more detectors/sensors 37, 38, and 39 locatedelsewhere in the vehicle 15).

The vehicle plus mobile detected information (as also described in (c)of the Summary section hereinabove) is transmitted over wirelessconnection 65 (i.e., to a wireless base station 70), and suchinformation may include position information indicative of whether theControllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 is within a restricted zone for thevehicle 15, or outside of the restricted zone, wherein such a restrictedzone may be a geospatial envelop (2-dimensional or 3-dimensional) withinthe vehicle occupant enclosure 20 that is particularly associated withwhere an occupant would be positioned for operating the vehicle. Thevehicle plus mobile detected information may further include detailedinformation describing a more precise position of the CMD 25 within sucha restricted zone. The position information may be defined in a3-dimensional spatial grid of x, y, and z coordinate offsets from areference point, which might be a point adjacent to or in the base unit35 of the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 with optional resolutions ininches or centimeters, etc, or the position information may be providedas a one dimensional distance from, e.g., the detector and/or sensor 37located near the driver's seat (more generally, the operator'sposition). Further, the data transmitted via connection 65 may includevehicle state information as to whether the vehicle 15 is moving and theoperational status of the VDS 30 itself. In one embodiment, all of thedata may be transmitted over the wireless connection 65 to the VehicleService Provider (VSP) 100 in a real-time, near-continuous stream ofinformation. Alternately and/or optionally, the CMD may also provideinformation via 50 to a wireless network 45, the information includingbut not limited to information about a user's use of one or moreservices, number of finger pushes, e.g., selection of one or morefeature of the phone, number of services used during a segment ofdistance or time, number of times a password was entered, textingservices being used including reading, responding, phone services usage,internet services usage, game services usage, application usage,internet being usage, location of CMD, velocity of CMD, acceleration ofCMD, deceleration of CMD, movement of CMD, power of CMD, e.g., was CMDon/off, self-identification of user and combinations of the same.

Alternately and/or optionally, the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 maystore the vehicle status information related to each restricted zone,each CMD 25 position, and other data in local non-volatile memory withinthe VDS for later forwarding to the Safe Driving Registration System(SDRS) 105 via the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100. The VSP 100 mayprovide multiple network access methods by which the VDS 30 may forwardthe stored data. In one embodiment, when the VDS 30 entersreceive/transmit range of VSP's 100 network 60, the VDS may beoperational to transmit the stored data to wireless network base station70 via wireless signal 65. In another embodiment, the VSP 100 mayprovide access to the VDS 30 through a data network 90. For example awireless connection and signaling between the VSP 100 and the VDS 30 maybe tunneled through an Internet data connection (e.g., TCP/IP) whereinthe data network 90 is used to communicate data to the Mobile ServicesControl System 10, e.g., when the vehicle 15 resides at the premises 85as shown in FIG. 1 . Examples of this embodiment include, but are notlimited to, the user driving their vehicle into a home garage, or abusiness parking lot, or business depot garage (for commercial uses),wherein the VDS 30 transmits the stored data via an over-the-airconnection 75 to an on premises 85 wireless transceiver 80, such as, forexample a Wireless Local Arca Network (WLAN)/Wi-Fi, femtocell orpicocell, Bluetooth, Wireless USB, or some similar connection. Thewireless transceiver 80 is operational to connect to a wide area datanetwork, such as, for example, the Internet 90. Alternately and/oroptionally, the VDS 30 may use a wired LAN connection 75 at the premisesbuilding 85 to connect through the wide area network 90 to the VSP 100.

Alternately and/or optionally, the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 maybe configured and operable to transmit the vehicle plus mobile detectedinformation and other data directly to the Controllable Mobile Device(CMD) 25 via an over-the-air connection 40. In this configuration boththe CMD 25 and the VDS 30 include vehicle wireless network interfaces,such as, for example a WLAN/Wi-Fi, femtocell or picocell wireless,Bluetooth, Wireless USB, or some similar connection. In thisconfiguration, control software on the CMD 25 may determine what actionto take on specific services or applications operating on the CMD, suchactions may include, but is not limited to: disabling a specificservice, a set of services, or all services on the CMD; enabling aspecific service, a set of services, or all services on the CMD; orenabling a specific service, a set of services, or all services on theCMD but also delivering a warning to the user via a CMD user interface.In one embodiment, the vehicle operational status, restricted zone,position, and other data transmitted directly to the CMD 25 via anover-the-air connection 40, may operate directly with a speciallyconstructed battery on the CMD, which in turn disables the entire CMD.The special battery (not shown) may be constructed in the same shape,size, and form of a standard battery for the CMD with the addition ofinternal digital logic which controls the flow of power from the batteryto the CMD wherein the digital logic receives the vehicle operationalstatus, restricted zone, position, and other data transmitted viaover-the-air connection 40 and decides whether to enable or disable theflow of power to the CMD.

Alternately and/or optionally, the VDS may be connected to the vehicle,e.g., through the OBDII port of the vehicle, which can provide power tothe VDS, as well as other information through the vehicle computerinformation network. Information provided to the VDS through the OBDIIport for communication to the SDD 110 and SDS 125 by transmissionwirelessly to the CMD 25 carrier network, or through other wirelesslyconnected means such as WiFI, either real time, or in a store andforward mode, may include vehicle speed, vehicle location over a segmentof travel, vehicle acceleration, information indicative of a hardbreaking event, serving event, hard acceleration event, accident,vehicle power on/off, mileage, vehicle maintenance information, RPM,seat position information and other information available to the VDSthrough the OBDII port in support of limiting distracted driving, or forother business reasons.

The VDS may be connected to vehicle power, either through a directconnection to vehicle wiring, or through a power outlet in the vehicle.In this embodiment, the VDS is not directly connected to the OBDII port,but captures vehicle location and speed information from GPS datacollected by a GPS chip connected to the VDS, or by using anaccelerometer connected to the VDS, or through changes in cell-towerconnection data detected by the wireless cell connection within the VDS,or a combination of the above. Detection of motion via the accelerometermay include detection of vibration indicative of engine operation orvehicle movement, or by integration of acceleration data indicative ofvelocity. In another embodiment of the invention, the VDS is notconnected to vehicle power, but is powered by solar cells on the VDSthat is connected to a battery that would be charged by the solar cellsand allow operation during periods of darkness.

Returning to FIG. 1 , in one embodiment the Vehicle Service Provider(VSP) 100 and the Mobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130 may bedifferent business entities wherein the wireless networks 60 and 45 arephysically separate and distinct networks which may, or may not, usedifferent wireless technologies. When VSP 100 and MDSP 130 are differentservice providers data may be exchanged between them via connection 145when no data format or signaling protocol conversion is needed, or via aService Provider Interworking function 140 when some type ofinterworking is necessary. Alternately and/or optionally, the VSP 100and the MDSP 130 may be the same business entity, or related businessentities that act as a single business entity, wherein the wirelessnetworks 60 and 45 may be the same physical network.

The Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100 may be operational to deliver thevehicle plus mobile detected information to the Safe DrivingRegistration System (SDRS) 105 for storage in the Safe Driving Database110, also included in the mobile services control system 10. The SDRS105 may be provided by the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100, theMobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130, or a third party serviceprovider as one skilled in the art will understand. The SDRS 105 maystore the vehicle plus mobile detected information in a data managementsystem 110, also denoted herein as the Safe Driving Database 110, whichmay be considered as a component of the system 10 in at least someembodiments. Note that the Safe Driving Database 110 may also contain,but is not limited to, information identifying each subscribersubscribing to the services provided by the mobile services controlsystem 10, registration information identifying the Vehicle DetectionSystem (VDS) 30 for a specific vehicle managed/owned by the subscriber,registration information identifying one or more mobile devices 25 forthis subscriber, customizable service control settings (e.g., allowed orrestricted services, time-of-day controls, report options, etc.), gameparameters including rewards, discounts, locations of redemptions,pre-chosen user identified categories and awards, and information thatdescribes subscribers to the SDRS 105 (e.g., name, address, etc.).Subscribers subscribing to the services provided by the mobile servicescontrol system 10 include, for example, parents who register a vehicle15 for a teenage child and equip it with the VDS 30 to disable use ofthe teen's CMDs 25 within that vehicle. Note that other entities mayaccess the subscriber data within the Safe Driving Database 110. Theseother entities may include, for example, one or more Mobile DeviceService Providers (MDSP) 130 which provide mobile wireless services(e.g., voice, text messaging, email, Internet access, gaming, etc.) to,e.g., a teenager's CMD 25. Note that in at least some embodiment of themobile services control system 10, such providers 130 are not part ofthe system 10, but instead, are necessary for the operation of thesystem 10.

In addition, the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS) 105 may beoperational to provide user interfaces, such as, for example, Internetweb-based interfaces 115 for users (e.g., subscribers to the servicesprovided by the mobile services control system 10) to configure datamonitoring, rewards, discounts and service control settings for the oneor more vehicles 15 and one or more CMDs 25 such users manage. Theservice control settings may define which mobile services (e.g., voice,text messaging, email, Internet access, gaming, etc.) to allow and whichto disable under which conditions (e.g., when the vehicle is moving).Alternately and/or optionally service control settings may be providedas part of the Service Decision System 125 (FIGS. 1 and 6 ). Further,the SDRS 105 may provide each subscriber with configurable settings forreceiving alert messages, game score, information about the vehicleand/or CMD, the alert message can include information about a vehicle15, registered with the mobile services control system 10, is inoperation and/or when a registered Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25is turned on in the moving vehicle 15, and/or when a registered CMD iswithin a restricted zone of the vehicle 15). The alert messages mayinclude, but are not limited to, a text message, and email message, or aphone call to the subscriber alerting the subscriber about theoperational status of the registered vehicle 15 or the registered CMD25. The SDRS 105 may also provide user interfaces 115 for the subscriberor third-party to access reports of the vehicle 15, alerts, score, andCMD 25 status or usage, or the SDRS may automatically generate reports.

In one embodiment, the Safe Driving Database 110 (and/or the SDRS 105)is configured to generate a score, e.g., game score, based on one ormore of the following; did the driver self-identify themselves duringthe trip as a driver, frequency of use of one more services of the CMD,location of vehicle, acceleration, deceleration, number of perfectdistance segments (number of times a predetermined distance was drivenwithout an event indicating distracted) that satisfy a predeterminedcriteria, e.g., without using one or more services on the CMD that couldbe distracting, that the driver did not override the distracted drivingcontrol system, that they handled the CMD a certain way, or a certainnumber of times, that they pressed button on the CMD a certain amount oftimes, number of times one or more services of the CMD is overidden,power of the CMD, e.g., off or one, use and/or movement of CMD, e.g.,was a text looked at or answered or usage, was the phone answered orusage, fuel economy of travel and combinations of the same. The gamescore can also be based on the number of perfect distance segmentsdriven in sequence (a streak), so that the longer the streak, thegreater the score, or score multiplier. The Safe Driving Database mayalso be configured to allow team competitions to occur, where multipledrivers can combine their scores to compete against other groups ofmultiple drivers, the groups being chosen by the drivers or by a thirdparty. The Safe Driving Database 110 (and/or the SDRS 105) is configuredto communicate with the internet, e.g., social media including Twitter,Facebook, Advertiser, e-commerce, and the like, thereby allowing asubscriber, user or third-party to post the score, results, teamresults, notification of team rewards, provide discounts, provideawards, team competitions, leader boards and the like.

In one embodiment, the Safe Driving Database 110 (and/or the SDRS 105)may be hosted in a network, such as, any location or network siteconnected to the Internet and independently operated from the VSP 100and/or MDSP 130. Alternatively, the Safe Driving Database 110 (and/orthe SDRS 105) may be hosted at a location or network site administeredby a network-based VSP 100, or by a network-based MDSP 130, wherein theSafe Driving Database 110 (and/or the SDRS 105) may be operated by theVSP 100, the MDSP 130, or by a third-party. As such, the Safe DrivingDatabase 110 may operate as a national database monitoring and managingall registered vehicles 15 with multiple mobile service providers 130that are able to access the Safe Driving Database 110. Alternately, theSafe Driving Database 110 may be operated by an independent “thirdparty” company (e.g., a software or insurance company) for a specificset of subscribers, and/or within a specified geographic region, or theSafe Driving Database may be managed and operated by the Vehicle ServiceProvider (VSP) 100 or the Mobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130.

In one embodiment, the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS) 105 maybe implemented as two or more modules, where one or more of thosemodules is hosted on a subscriber's computing platform, such as, forexample, a home personal computer, a subscriber's mobile device, or somesimilar platform, and with one or more other modules hosted in a serviceprovider 130 network. This arrangement allows distributed report andcontrol management from a remote subscriber computer. In yet anotherembodiment, all modules of the SDRS 105 may be located on a subscribercomputing platform.

In one embodiment, the registrations of one or more CMDs 25 areassociated in the SDRS 105 with the registration of the VDS 30 for aspecific vehicle 15. The mobile services control system 10 may simply beoperable to control services (enable or disable) on the one or moreregistered CMDs 25 whenever motion is detected by the VDS 30 in theassociated vehicle 15, or alternately stated, the system 10 does notdetect the presence or position of a CMD 25 within the registeredvehicle 15, and instead assumes that services on the one or moreregistered CMDs 25 should be disabled whenever the vehicle 15 is inmotion. With this configuration of mobile services control system 10,there may be situations where the subscriber to the mobile controlservices system 10 knows that the user of CMD 25 (e.g., their teenagedchild, or their employee) will not be using the associated vehicle 15(registered through the vehicle's VDS 30) on a particular day, or duringa particular time. In such situations, the vehicle 15 may be used byanother person and may be moving while the subscriber knows theregistered CMD 25 is not in the vehicle 15. A similar situation mayarise when the subscriber and user are one in the same person and thatperson drops their vehicle 15 off at an auto repair shop for work duringthe day and takes their registered CMD 25 with them. Throughout that daythe vehicle 15 may be driven by repair shop personnel, but the CMD 25 iswith the subscriber/user where it is desirable to allow full use of theCMD 25 services.

Alternately and/or optionally, the mobile services control system 10 maybe operational to provide an override function to the subscriber or userof the mobile services control system 10 which allows the subscriber oruser to temporarily override the control of services on the CMD 25 byselecting an option via a user interface 115 (e.g., an Internet webinterface, a mobile device interface, some other computer interface,etc.), or via an option displayed on the CMD 25. Alternately and/oroptimally, the override may be initiated by the user of the CMD 25 bysending a simple text message or voice message to a specified numberdesignated by the Service Decision System 125, or alternately, the SafeDriving Registration System 105 to receive override messages, suchmessage initiating the override for a specific amount of time specifiedby the user of the CMD 25 via the message. In such a case, the ServiceDecision System 125 or alternately the Safe Driving Registration System105 may send an email or voice or text alert to the subscriber of themobile services control system 10 that may also include information ofthe times that the associated vehicle 15 was in motion in relation tothe time of the override. These text alerts then provide a method forthe subscriber to change the configuration of the mobile servicescontrol system 10 to disallow user of CMD 25 to self-generate overridemessages if this feature is being abused. Alternately and/or optionally,in one embodiment, when: (i) the VSP 100 and MDSP 130 are operated bythe same business entity, and wireless networks 45 and 60 are one in thesame network (or substantially so), or (ii) the VSP 100 and MDSP 130 aredifferent business entities but are sharing information to supportincreased operability of the Mobile Services Control System 10, then ineither case, information related to the location of the base stations inwireless communication with the CMD 25 and VDS 30 (e.g., base stations70 and 55 in FIG. 1 , and which may be the same base station) may beused to programmatically deduce whether the Controllable Mobile Device(CMD) 25 is possibly within the vehicle 15 having the VDS 30, orprobably not within the vehicle 15. If the VDS 30 is connected to aunified wireless network, including both the network 60 and the network45 (herein the combined network also denoted 60+45) through one basestation 70, but the CMD 25 is connected through a different base station55 then the mobile services control system 10 may use this informationand predefined geographical information about the locations of basestations 70 and 55, to determine if the CMD 25 is physically in adifferent location from the location of the VDS 30 and vehicle 15. Ifthe mobile services control system 10 concludes that the CMD 25 is notin the same base station area as the vehicle's 15 VDS 30 then the mobileservices control system may temporarily suspend control of services onthe CMD 25. Alternately and/or optionally, this determination may bemade by the location of VDS 30 with respect to CMD 25 by triangulationand calculation of multiple cell tower signals received from VDS 30 andCMD 25. Alternately and/or optionally, since information indicative ofrelative signal strength from wireless communication changes withmovement of a CMD 25, such movement can be used to determine theapproximate velocity of both the VDS 30 and CMD 25, and such approximatevelocities can be compared to conclude if the CMD 25 is in the samevehicle as the VDS 30, and if not, temporarily suspend control ofservices on the CMD 25.

In one embodiment of the mobile services control system 10, the ServicesDecision System 125 may be operational to receive the vehicle plusmobile detected information (e.g., vehicle operational status, CMDposition information, CMD use information, override,self-identification, auto-identification, restricted zone data, etc.)and service control settings (e.g., subscriber service selections,awards, discounts, subscriber preferences, service provider options,etc.) to determine for each managed communication service whether toenable or disable the service. The vehicle plus mobile detectedinformation may be received by the Service Decision System 125periodically at set intervals or in a real-time near-continuous streamof data. A high level flowchart of the processing performed by theService Decision System 125 is described herein below, and illustratedin FIG. 7 .

In one embodiment, the Service Decision System 125 may be operational toconnect with the Mobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130 orthird-party source to receive the vehicle plus mobile detectedinformation from the MDSP via the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100from the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS) 105 where the vehicleplus mobile detected information is stored in the Safe Driving Database110. Data is transmitted to and from between the MDSP 130 and VSP 100via a direct connection 145 when a compatible data format and signalinginterfaces exist, or alternately/optionally via Service ProviderInterworking function 140 when some type of data format or signalingconversion is necessary. The vehicle plus mobile detected informationmay be transmitted based on service provider access parameters byperiodic polling and “pull” requests from the MDSP 130 to the SafeDriving Registration System (SDRS), or based on event-driven “push”transmissions from the SDRS 105 to the MDSP 130. In one embodiment,these vehicle plus mobile detected information is transmitted in areal-time data stream to allow real-time control of the plurality ofservices on each CMD 25 as it is moved in and out of the restricted zonein the vehicle occupant enclosure 20. In this later configuration, theService Decision System 125 forwards the determinations it makes (e.g.,to enable or disable a specific service) on to the MDSP 130 which, inturn, may enable or disable one or more of the services on the CMD 25.Further, in this configuration, the Service Decision System 125 may bephysically hosted by the MDSP 130 in the MDSP's network, or hosted by athird party service provider, which may, or may not, be the same serviceprovider hosting the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS) 105 and/orSafe Driving Database 110.

Alternately and/or optionally, the Service Decision System 125 may beoperational to connect directly via communications path 120 and/or pathto user interfaces 115 to the SDRS 105 to receive the vehicle plusmobile detected information from the SDRS 105 without transiting the VSP100 and MDSP 130. In this configuration, data may still be transmittedbetween the SDRS 105 and Service Decision System 125 using a polling(“pull”), or event-driven (“push”) method, or real-time near continuousstream. In this configuration, the Service Decision System 125 forwardsthe determinations it makes to enable or disable a CMD 25 specificservice to the SDRS 105 which sets an enable/disable flag for each suchservice in the SDRS, which the MDSP 130 is then operational to querythat flag via a “pull” request or “push” notification. Further, in thisconfiguration, the Service Decision System 125 may be physically hostedby the same service provider hosting the Safe Driving RegistrationSystem (SDRS) 105 and/or Safe Driving Database 110, or possibly by athird party service provider.

The Service Decision System 125 also provides a user interface 115(e.g., a computer software interface, an Internet web interface, amobile device interface, or some other user interface) for subscribers,users or third-parties to view and manage their service controlsettings, for administrators of the Mobile Device Service Provider(MDSP) 130 to manage operational settings, scoring parameters, e.g.,game parameters, awards, offered discounts, advertisements, and/or foradministrators of the SDRS 105 to manage operational parameters.

Disclosed in FIG. 2 is one embodiment of the functional components thatmay be provided on a Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25. The CMD 25 maybe a cell phone, smart phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), apersonal computer with wireless network connectivity, a mobile digitalTV, an in-vehicle navigation system, or any other mobile communicationdevice which offers services, also known as “applications,” to a user.For the present disclosure, such mobile communication devices 25 includevarious mobile communication devices that can be moved in and out of avehicle 15 or moved around within a vehicle 15, as well as devices thatmove with the vehicle 15, that is, devices that may be built-in to avehicle (e.g., a navigation system), but nonetheless provide servicesthat may be distracting to a driver while the vehicle is moving. Onewith ordinary skill in the art may envision built-in vehicle navigationsystems one day providing all of the typical cell phone services likevoice, text messaging, video, Internet access, mobile DTV, and games. Assuch, to control the use of potentially distracting services on a mobilecommunication device within the restricted zone of a moving vehicle,devices fixed to the vehicle, (e.g., attached to, or built-in, as CMDs)are disclosed herein that assist in controlling a driver using suchservices.

The implementation of the Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 mayinclude an operating system 210 and a plurality of services/applications205, including, but not limited to, voice, text messaging, video,Internet access, games, and other types of service. The term “service”in the present context, includes interactive mobile communicationservices, display or output only services, and input only services. TheCMD 25 may also include a vehicle wireless network interface 215 whichsupports a typical wireless local area network (WLAN), for example,Wi-Fi, or some other wireless local network capability, like, forexample, femtocell or picocell wireless, Bluetooth, Wireless USB, etc.The vehicle wireless network 215 may be configured for wirelessconnection to the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30, or other wirelessdevices in proximity to the CMD 25. In addition, as a mobile device, theCMD 25 also provides a service provider wireless network interface 220which connects the CMD 25 to the Mobile Device's Service Provider (MDSP)130 (i.e., wireless network 45), shown in FIG. 1 , over a wirelessconnection 50.

The Vehicle Detection System 30 (VDS) may be operational to detect aControllable Mobile Device 25 (CMD) through the Mobile Device AirIdentifier 200 (FIG. 2 ). In one embodiment the Mobile Device AirIDentifier 200 is (or includes) a Radio Frequency IDentifier (RFID)transponder (also known in the art as a “tag”). The Mobile Device AirIDentifier 200 may be built-in to the CMD 25 and completely containedwithin the CMD, or the Mobile Device Air IDentifier 200 may be attachedto the CMD with some form of adhesive to place it on the outer surfaceof the CMD, or the Mobile Device Air IDentifier 200 may be integratedwith the battery for the CMD, where such batteries may be provided as anafter-market component for the CMD. Such an attached Mobile Device AirIDentifier 200 may be affixed in such a way so as to prevent tampering,wherein such tampering may include removal of the Mobile Device AirIDentifier 200 or covering of the Mobile Device Air IDentifier 200 witha material which occludes the radio frequency signal from reaching theMobile Device Air IDentifier 200. Further, the Mobile Device AirIDentifier 200 may be “passive,” without a power source, or it may be an“active” tag by drawing power from the CMDs power source. There aremultiple advantages to the Mobile Device Air IDentifier 200 being anactive RFID tag. In particular, the following advantages may beprovided: (i) the detectors 37, 38, 39 (disclosed in FIG. 3 ) mayrequire less power to sense the RFID tags, (ii) such an active RFID tagmay be sensed over a greater distance, and (iii) there may be greateraccuracy in reading the identity of an active RFID tag. The MobileDevice Air IDentifier 200 may be used for routing mobile device positioninformation by the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100 to the appropriateMobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130.

Alternately, the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 and CMD 25 may beoperational to use another over-the-air identification and positiondetection technology other than RFID, such as, using acoustic methodssuch as ultrasound, using optical technologies such as InfraRed (IR), orother similar technologies for determining the position of the CMDrelative to the VDS.

The Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 may further be operational tosupport control software 225 (FIG. 2 ) which provides the ability tocontrol—that is, monitor, enable, disable, and report on—other services205 provided on the CMD. The control software 225 may receive data orinstructions as input from the VDS 30 via wireless connection 40 (FIG. 1) or from the Mobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130 via wirelessconnection 50.

Disclosed in FIG. 3 is one embodiment of the functional components thatmay be provided on a Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30. The VDS 30 maybe a single hardware unit, or multiple hardware components each hostingvarious functions as described below. Each hardware component of the VDS30 may be factory installed at the time a vehicle is manufactured andtherefore built-in to the dashboard, engine compartment, ceiling,molding, or other parts of the vehicle, and in general, out-of-sightfrom users. Alternately and/or optionally, the one or more hardwarecomponents of the VDS 30 may be “after-market installed” at some pointin time after the vehicle has been shipped from the manufacturer.After-market components may be visible to the user, or designed toblend-in with other parts of the vehicle, and may receive wired, orperhaps wireless power, from the vehicle's power, or they may be batterypowered, or powered from some other energy source, such as, for example,solar power, wind power through vehicle movement, or possibly byconverting the kinetic energy of the vehicle motion to electrical power,or other power sources. In one embodiment, the Vehicle Detection System(VDS) 30 base unit 35 may be configured with a single positiondetector/sensor 37 in a small, molded unit (also referred to herein as a“pod”) which may be mounted under the dashboard of vehicle 15, or on ornear the steering column in close proximity to a fuse box therebyallowing a straightforward connection to the vehicle's power. In anotherembodiment, the pod may directly connected to the On Board Diagnostic(OBD) interface that is available in all US vehicles manufactured after1996, so as to both provide power, and provide information on the statusof the vehicle 15 including whether it is powered, and thereforeimplying that it is in motion, or velocity information directly, suchinformation to be used by the VDS 35 to establish the status of thevehicle.

As disclosed in FIG. 3 the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may beoperational to provide a vehicle motion sensor 305 capability whichsenses when the vehicle is in motion. The vehicle motion sensing 305capability may be configured to sense any motion, such as, for example,less than 1 mile per hour, or it may be configured to consider motion tobe any speed over 5, or 10 miles per hour, or the sensing capability maybe configurable by adjusting a control (e.g., a knob, or button, or asoftware configurable control) on the vehicle motion sensor to set thethreshold speed limit. Examples of vehicle motion sensing 305functionality include, but are not limited to, an accelerometer, a GPStracking device, the speedometer built-in to the vehicle, or othersimilar motion sensing devices. Alternately, or in addition to, thevehicle motion sensor 305 may infer vehicle motion from power beingturned on in the vehicle 15, by conversely indicating the vehicle 15 isnot in motion by the absence of power to the vehicle (the vehicle keybeing turned off).

Disclosed in FIG. 4 , the vehicle motion sensor 305 may report thevehicle is in operation to the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS)105 based purely on whether the vehicle 15 is in motion (steps 405, 410)or not. As such, when the vehicle 15 comes to a stop (e.g., at a trafficred light), or when the vehicle's speed drops below the minimumthreshold (step 410) (e.g., in congested traffic), then the vehiclemotion sensor 305 may signal that the vehicle is no longer moving. Whenthe vehicle 15 moves again, the vehicle motion sensor 305 may signalthat vehicle motion is occurring. This moving, not moving, moving, notmoving change of status, however, might intermittently enable services(e.g., text messaging) during those brief periods the driver has stoppedor slowed down. It may be desirable to disable services when a vehicleis in slow traffic or stopped briefly at a traffic light. In oneembodiment, if the vehicle 15 slows below the threshold speed (step 410)and if the engine is still powered on (step 425), the vehicle motionsensor 305 concludes the vehicle is in operation (step 420) and waits aconfigured amount of time to check the motion status again in step 400.

Alternately and/or optionally, the vehicle motion sensor 305 may reportthe vehicle is in operation to the SDRS 105 based on a combination ofcurrent movement or recent movement (e.g., within the past 2-4 minutes,or some configurable amount of time). If the detect traffic option (asdetermined in step 440) is set in the vehicle motion sensor 305, thenthe logical combination would prevent intermittent use of CMD 25services during traffic stoplights, or in stop-and-go congested trafficwhereby the vehicle motion sensor 305 would continuously report thevehicle 15 is in operation until it is no longer moving. Recent motionis calculated (step 445) by continually updating a time variable eachtime the vehicle motion sensor 305 determines that the vehicle is inmotion 415 as the difference between the current time and the vehiclelast moved time. If the vehicle speed (as determined in step 405) isbelow the threshold (step 410) and the detect traffic option (asdetermined in step 440) is on, and the vehicle 15 has not movedrecently, then the vehicle motion sensor 305 reports to the VDSdetection engine 300 that the vehicle is not in operation in step 435.Otherwise, if the vehicle 15 has moved recently then the vehicle motionsensor 305 reports the vehicle is in operation in step 455.

The vehicle motion sensor 305 may report the raw data including vehiclespeed, g-force data, engine power state, the vehicle last moved time,and the detect traffic option to the SDRS 105 via the VSP 100 where theSDRS 105 would be operational to provide the vehicle motion sensor logicto determine whether brief traffic stops or congested traffic constitutethat the vehicle is in operation, or not. Alternately and/or optionally,the vehicle motion sensor 305 may only report state changes to the SDRS105 (e.g., the vehicle 15 is in operation, or the vehicle is not inoperation), or the vehicle motion sensor may regularly and periodicallyreport (e.g., every minute, or every few seconds, a real-time stream, orsome such appropriate interval) the current status to the SDRS 105.Alternately and/or optionally, the Service Decision System 125 mayprovide the vehicle motion sensor logic with the raw data transmittedfrom the VDS 30 to the Service Decision System via the SDRS 105.

Returning to FIG. 3 , the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may alsoinclude a vehicle wireless network interface function 310 which supportsa typical wireless local area network (WLAN), for example, Wi-Fi, orsome other wireless local network capability, like, for example,Bluetooth, Wireless USB, etc. The vehicle wireless network 310 may beconfigured for wireless connection to one or more CMDs 25 and/or forwireless connection to the one or more position detectors and/orsensors, identified in FIG. 3 as 37, 38, 39 that are part of the VDS 30.In addition, the VDS 30 also provides a service provider wirelessnetwork interface 315 which connects the VDS to the Vehicle's ServiceProvider (VSP) network, 60 shown in FIG. 1 , over a wireless connection65. The vehicle wireless network 310 may be configured to detectfree-access local networks such as free-access WiFi, and automaticallyconnect to these to download store-and-forward data to the Safe DrivingRegistration System (SDRS) 105.

The Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may also include a detectionengine 300 (e.g., a hardware/software configuration of computationalequipment) which determines whether a detected Controllable MobileDevice (CMD) 25 is within a restricted zone while the vehicle 15. In oneembodiment the detection engine 300 is in communication with one or moreof a plurality of position detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39 toreceive real-time position information about one or more ControllableMobile Devices 25. The detection engine 300 also receives motion sensinginformation from the vehicle motion sensor 305 and possibly enginepowered on/off information from the vehicle 15. If the vehicle motionsensor 305 uses an accelerometer to provide motion sensing information,the detection engine 300 may be operational to discern vibrationsassociated with vehicle motion from other motions caused by othersources such as wind, or movement within the vehicle 15.

In one embodiment, the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may receivemotion sensing information from the CMD 25, via the Mobile DeviceService Provider (MDSP) 130, which may include, but is not limited to, aGPS capability built-in to the CMD, or motion determination by the MDSPwireless network, such as, for example, triangulation of signals betweenmultiple cellular radio frequency towers, or other means available inthe MDSP to determine motion of the CMD. In one variation of thisembodiment, the motion sensing information is determined by the MDSP 130and relayed via the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100 over wirelessconnection 65 to the VDS 30, where the MDSP and VSP may be the samenetwork service provider. In another variation, the motion sensinginformation may be relayed by the MDSP 130 back to the CMD 25 viawireless connection 50 and then transmitted by the vehicle wirelessnetwork 215 on the CMD to the vehicle wireless network 310 on the VDS.

The detection engine 300 further may be operational to provide theability to define a “restricted zone” within the vehicle wherein CMDs 25are detected and possibly services on the Controllable Mobile Device(CMD) are disabled. In one embodiment, such a restricted zone isconfigurable by the person who installs the Vehicle Detection System(VDS) 30 or possibly by the subscriber. The detection engine 300 of theVDS 30 may provide a wired configuration port 330, such as, for examplea serial port, a USB port, or similar interface technology, to allow acomputational device, such as, for example, a personal computer, anotebook computer, a PDA, or even a mobile phone, to connect to thedetection engine and provide a user interface 340 for configuring therestricted zone. The user interface (UI) may be graphical, or numerical,or some such appropriate UI. The connection between the detection engine300 and the computational device may be wired or a wireless connection,and it may use the vehicle wireless network interface 310, for example aWi-Fi connection. Alternately and/or optionally, the detection engine300 may provide a default restricted zone.

The Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may further be operational toprovide a Detection System Air Identifier 325. In one embodiment theDetection System Air IDentifier 325 includes a Radio FrequencyIDentifier (RFID) transponder or tag. The one or more position detectorsand/or sensors 37, 38, 39 may be operational to read the DetectionSystem Air IDentifier to verify that the Detection System Air IDentifieris readable, thereby deducing that the VDS base unit 35 (FIG. 1 ) hasnot been obstructed and occluded from detecting one or more CMDs 25.Further, the position detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39 read theDetection System Air IDentifier 325 to confirm the location of theDetection System Air IDentifier, relative to its initial location at thetime of installation, and thereby confirm that the VDS base unit 35 hasnot been moved, which could alter the restricted zone. The DetectionSystem Air IDentifier 325 helps prevent tampering of the VDS base unit35. The Detection System Air IDentifier 325 may be passive, without apower source, or it may be an active tag by drawing power from the VDS'spower source. Alternately, the Detection System Air IDentifier 325 maybe a similar over-the-air identification and position detectiontechnology other than RFID.

Alternately and/or optionally, the VDS 30 may be operational to detectand identify a Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 via one or morewireless signals from the CMD 25. This includes, but is not limited to,detection and identification via the local area vehicle wireless networkcapability 310 in the VDS 30 and corresponding local arca wirelessnetwork capability 215 in the CMD 25 over wireless connection 40 whereinthe presence of a specific CMD 25 may be detected and identified.Alternately and/or optionally, the VDS 30 may be operational to receiveand connect with the wireless network signal 50 (e.g., the cellular orsome such similar technology) from the CMD 25 intended for the MDSP 130service provider through the MDSP's wireless network 45 wherein the VDS30 may be operational to have the necessary encryption codes andwireless signaling technology to read the wireless network signal 50 andthrough that signal identify the specific CMD 25.

The VDS base unit 35 configuration of the Vehicle Detection System (VDS)30 may include the detection engine, 300 vehicle motion sensor 305,Detection System Air IDentifier 325, vehicle wireless network 310, andservice provider wireless network 315 components or functions. The VDSbase unit 35 may also include one of the position detectors 37, 38, 39.

As described above, the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may yet beoperational to provide one or more position detectors and/or sensors 37,38, 39. In one embodiment, each position detector 37, 38, 39 includes aRadio Frequency IDentifier (RFID) reader. Each such RFID readertransmits a signal 380 wirelessly which any of the RFID tags in the areapick-up and in turn each tag transmits it's ID number, and possiblyother data including driver ID, back to the reader. Passive tags use thesignal from such a reader to generate enough power for the tag totransmit the response. The VDS 30 may provide one or more RFID readersas position detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39. A configuration of onereader could be placed in the dashboard area of a vehicle and provideapproximately a circular detection area as the restricted zone. In thisimplementation the single position detector 37 (one RFID reader) may beimplemented in the same component (a single “pod”) along with all of theother VDS functions described above. Alternately, or in addition to, thesingle position detector 37, could be implemented in a separate physicalcomponent from the other base unit VDS 35 functions.

Additional position detectors and/or sensors 38, 39, for example, atotal of three detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39 placed at appropriatedistances from one another, may allow the detection engine 300 ofVehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 to triangulate the exact position of aCMD 25, by comparing relative response signal strengths, and therebydetermine whether it is within a restricted zone. The triangulationlogic employs standard algorithms to calculate a more accurate positionof the CMD 25. In one embodiment, the VDS 30 may use one or twodetectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39 to determine the approximateposition of the CMD 25 by also detecting the relative strength of theRFID signals with respect to the known location of the detectors and/orsensors 37, 38, 39, and thereby approximate whether the CMD is withinthe restricted zone. The VDS 30 may support more than three positiondetectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39 depending on the position accuracyneeded and the size of the vehicle.

Each position detector 37, 38, 39 may be connected to the VDS base unit35 by a wired connection 345, 350, 355 for transmitting detectedinformation to the detection engine 300 along with providing power toeach of the remote position detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39.Alternately, each position detector may provide it's own vehiclewireless network interface, such as, for example, Wi-Fi, to transmitdata wirelessly 345, 350, 355 to and from the VDS base unit 35. Wirelessposition detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39 may receive power from someother source, such as, for example, batteries, solar power, wirelesspower, wind power through vehicle movement, or other power sources.

Further, each position detector 37, 38, 39 may also be configured with aPosition Detector Air Identifier 360, 370, 375, such as, for example, anintegrated RFID tag, within the detector which is configured to respondto the queries of other detectors and/or sensors (e.g., RFID readers).At the same time, each position detector is configured to ignore it'sown Position Detector Air Identifier. FIG. 3 illustrates one embodimentof the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30, wherein the Position DetectorAir IDentifiers in each position detector are labeled PD1AID 360, PD2AID370, and PD3AID 375. The purpose of the other Position Detector AirIDentifiers is to provide a multi-way “heart-beat” capability for otherdetectors and/or sensors to confirm that each detector and/or sensor isstill detectable, and that the other position detectors and/or sensors37, 38, 39 are at the location they were originally installed. In apreferred embodiment the Position Detector Air IDentifiers locatedwithin each position detector are not isolated, but rather are connectedto the position detector and the power source of the position detector.As such, when each Position Detector Air Identifier is polled for aheart-beat response it may be able to provide a smart-heart-beatresponse including status information about the detector and/or sensoritself. In addition, the VDS base unit 35 may be able to exchange otherstatus information with each detector and/or sensor.

The Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may additionally be operational todetect wireless signal 380 from one or more Controllable Mobile Devices25 in parallel within the restricted zone and to process that datathrough the detection engine 300 and to transmit that data to the VPS100 via the service provider wireless network 315 interface in aninterleaved, virtually simultaneous fashion.

In one embodiment, the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 may use othertechnology methods to detect the position of one or more CMDs 25 withina restricted zone. These include, but are not limited to, detecting thestrength of an electromagnetic signal from the CMD 25, such as, forexample, a radio frequency signal, which may emanate from the Bluetoothor Wi-Fi capability on the mobile device, or from the cellular signal ofthe mobile device, or from a different electromagnetic signal source onthe CMD 25.

In a further embodiment, the detection engine 300 of the VehicleDetection System (VDS) 30 may compare the absolute position of theControllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 to the absolute position of the VDSbase unit 35 to determine if the CMD is within the relative boundary ofthe restricted zone. In this configuration, the absolute position of theCMD 25 may be determined by multiple methods, including, but not limitedto, the Mobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130 using the signalstrength from its wireless network base stations 55 to triangulate theposition of the CMD, or by a GPS location capability built-in to the CMD25 in operation with a GPS network and the MDSP 130. Further, in thisconfiguration, the absolute position of the VDS 30 may be determined bymultiple methods, including, but not limited to, the Vehicle ServiceProvider (VSP) 100 using the signal strength from its wireless networkbase stations 70 to triangulate the position of the VDS 30, or by a GPSlocation capability built-in to the VDS 30 in operation with a GPSnetwork and the VSP 100. Both the MDSP and the VSP, or the GPS network,are operational to transmit the determined absolute position, probablystated in geographical coordinates, to the VSP via wireless networkconnection 65 where the detection engine compares the absolute positionsof the CMD 25 and VDS 30 with the relative boundary of the restrictedzone.

In yet another embodiment, the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 maydetect a CMD 25 through conduction of an electrostatic charge by theuser holding the mobile device and touching the steering wheel, orsimilar part of the vehicle in the driver's seat, thereby creating anelectrostatic connection leading to the deduction that the driver useris holding the mobile device within the restricted zone.

Disclosed in FIG. 5 is one embodiment of the functional components thatmay be provided in the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS) 105. TheSDRS 105 includes a safe driving engine 500 (e.g., a hardware/softwareconfiguration of computational equipment) which receives the vehicleplus mobile detected information about the vehicle 15 and possiblyControllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25 position information from theVehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 via the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP)100. The safe driving engine 500 stores the received information, alongwith information identifying the registered vehicle 15, the registeredCMDs 25, and the subscriber, in the Safe Driving Database 110. Further,the safe driving engine 500 provides user interfaces 115 forsubscribers, system administrators, and possibly data subscribers toaccess data stored in the Safe Driving Database 110, configurepreference and service control settings, configure alert message options510, configure game settings, awards, tokens, discounts, and to generatereports 505. The user interfaces 115 provided by the safe driving engine500 may be accessed by computational devices, such as, for example, apersonal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, amobile phone, or other similar device equipped with an Internetconnection, which may also provide an Internet web browser.

The safe driving engine 500 is also operational to transmit informationfrom the Safe Driving Database 110 to the Mobile Device Service Provider(MDSP) 130 via the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100 through variousland based and wireless based communication networks and/or to receiveinformation from the MDSP 130 which may include, for example, usage datafor specific mobile services. With mobile usage data, the safe drivingengine 500 may correlate that data with vehicle operational data and,possibly CMD 25 restricted zone position data, and/or perform othercalculations on the data.

Disclosed in FIG. 6 is one embodiment of the functional components thatmay be provided in a Service Decision System 125. The Service DecisionSystem 125 may include a service decision engine 600 (e.g., ahardware/software configuration of computational equipment) whichreceives vehicle plus mobile detected information. In one embodiment,the service decision engine is in direct communication with the MobileDevice Service Provider (MDSP) 130 (shown in FIG. 1 ) wherein the MDSP130 is allowed to access the Safe Driving Registration System (SDRS) 105and either queries the SDRS for update vehicle operational use andrestricted zone data from the centralized Safe Driving Database, or theMDSP registers with the SDRS for regular and periodic updates (e.g.,every minute, or every few seconds, a real-time stream, or some suchappropriate interval) of the data to be sent by the SDRS. Alternately,or in addition to, the Service Decision System 125, via the MDSP 130,may receive the data to be stored and forwarded in some other timingarrangement.

Alternately and/or optionally, the Service Decision System 125 may be indirect communication 120 with the Safe Driving Registration System(SDRS) 105 to receive the vehicle plus mobile detected information.

The service decision engine 600 may also be operational to receive inputservice control settings 605 which may include, but are not limited to,parameters defined by state or local laws, parameters set by the MobileDevice Service Provider (MDSP) 130, parameters set by individualsubscribers for all users of CMDs 25 for the subscriber, parameters of agame, or awards, or discounts and/or individual users within a groupmanaged by the subscriber. The service control settings 605 may include,but are not limited to, parameters that define which service the servicedecision engine 600 controls for which users (e.g., voice calls, textmessaging, video calls or messaging, Internet access, games, etc.); howthose services are controlled (e.g., disable the service when thevehicle is operational, disable the service when the Controllable MobileDevice (CMD) 25 is within the restricted zone, enable the service whenthe CMD moves outside of the restricted zone, enable the service whenthe CMD is within the restricted zone but send a warning or remindermessage to the CMD, as well as other possible control scenarios); whattime frames some services may be enabled or disabled, as well as othercontrol preferences.

Further, the service control settings 605 may be stored and managed inoperations with the service decision engine of the Service DecisionSystem 125, or in direct operation with the SDRS 105.

Disclosed in FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating some of the steps in theservice decision engine 600 to determine whether to enable or disableservices. The service decision engine 600 may receive vehicle plusmobile detected information and service control settings (step 705). Ifthe vehicle 15 is not in operation (as determined in step 710) theservice decision engine 600 sends an enable services directive to eitherthe MDSP 130 or the SDRS 110, depending on how it is configured(disclosed in FIG. 1 ). Conversely, if the vehicle is in operation (asdetermined in step 710) and the option to check for CMD 25 positioningrelative to the restricted zone (step 715) is off, then the servicedecision engine 600 sends a disable services directive (step 725) toeither the MDSP 130 or the SDRS 110. Alternately, if the vehicle 15 isin operation (as determined in step 710), the option to check for CMDpositioning is on (step 715), and the CMD 25 is within the restrictedzone of the vehicle (as determined in step 720), then the servicedecision engine 600 sends a disable services directive in step 725, orif the CMD is outside the restricted zone, then the service decisionengine 600 sends an enable services directive in step 730. Regardless,after the service decision engine 600 sends the appropriateenable/disable service directive, it waits a configured amount of timein step 700 (e.g., a minute or two, or perhaps even seconds) beforerepeating the process and receiving updated vehicle plus mobile detectedinformation in step 705. The service directive may specify individualservices, may direct all services (except emergency response services),may direct disabling the battery on the CMD (which in turn, wouldprevent operation of the CMD), may directly disable all functions on theCMD, or may send a warning message to the user of the CMD and/or to thesubscriber.

In one embodiment, the service directive is transmitted in a real-timeor near-continuous stream to the MDSP 130 or SDRS 105, or alternatelycould be stored and forwarded in some other timing arrangement.

Alternately, the Service Decision System 125 and service decision engine600 may be provided in any other suitable component of the mobileservice control system 10, including, but not limited to, the mobiledevice control software 225 of the CMD 25 (as illustrated in FIG. 2 ).

FIG. 8 shows one embodiment of the Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30with position detection capabilities in a passenger vehicle 15. A singleposition detector 37 is shown along with the circular symmetricdetection area 800. In practice, however, the perimeter of the detectioncoverage area may be irregular and influenced by the dashboard, driver'sdoor, the seats, and materials used in and around the driver's seat ofthe vehicle. In a single position detector 37 configuration, therestricted zone 805 for detecting an Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25is the same as the actual perimeter of the circular symmetric detectionarea. Further, the VDS 30 may provide the ability to adjust the extentof the restricted zone 805 by adjusting the power level of the positiondetector 37, such as, for example, adjusting the RFID reader. Forexample, in some deployments the restricted zone may only extend to theedge of the driver's seat, whereas in others it may extend to the middleof the front passenger's seat and behind the driver's seat asillustrated in FIG. 8 .

Disclosed in FIG. 9 is one embodiment of the Vehicle Detection System(VDS) 30 in a passenger vehicle 15 with three position detectors and/orsensors 37, 38, 39 with their unconstrained circular symmetric detectionareas 900. In this type of configuration the three detectors and/orsensors 37, 38, 39 can be used to triangulate an accurate position ofthe Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25. The overlap of the coverageareas from the three position detectors and/or sensors 37, 38, 39defines the restricted zone 905, which is illustrated with a darkerdashed line.

Referring again to FIG. 1 , the mobile services control system 10disclosed herein, including, but not limited to, the Vehicle DetectionSystem (VDS) 30, the Vehicle Service Provider (VSP) 100, the SafeDriving Registration System (SDRS) 105, the Safe Driving Database 110,the Mobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) 130, the Service DecisionSystem 125, and the Controllable Mobile Device (CMD) 25, are alloperational to allow emergency, or other designated prioritycommunications, including voice calls, video calls, text messages,emails, or other similar communications, at all times even when thesystem has determined that one or more services should be disabled dueto vehicle operational status or the position of a CMD within arestricted zone of a vehicle.

Disclosed herein is another embodiment of the mobile services controlsystem 10 that is well suited for vehicles 15 that are primarilyoperated by a single driver-operator, or driven or operated by multipledriver-operators who are scheduled so that at any particular time, thedriver-operator of a corresponding vehicle 15 is known with highconfidence (e.g., commercial drivers of vehicles such as trucks and taxicabs, operators of public transportation such as buses or trains, anddrivers of government vehicles). Since such a driver-operator of avehicle 15 is often the primary user of a unique CMD 25 or unique CMDs,knowledge of the motion of the vehicle 15 in conjunction with knowledgeof the operator of that vehicle (perhaps at a specific time) inconjunction with knowledge of a unique identifier of the operator's CMD25 (such as a cell phone number of the CMD(s), or Mobile Device AirIdentifier of the CMD(s)), enables the Mobile Services Control System 10to provide notifications to appropriate wireless carrier networkequipment for activating and/or deactivating CMD services (e.g.,texting, etc.). In particular, such activation and/or deactivation maybe substantially solely dependent upon a determination of whether thevehicle 15 is moving. In this embodiment, the Safe Driving RegistrationSystem 105 (FIG. 1 ) is configured through one or more of the UserInterfaces 115 (by a person and/or an automated input) with informationspecific to a unique vehicle 15 having with a Vehicle Detection System(VDS) 30, or information specific to a plurality of vehicles 15 eachhaving a Vehicle Detection System (VDS's) 30, wherein the informationincludes: (i) at least one primary operator of vehicle 15, or ifmultiple operators are scheduled for the vehicle, information specifyingthe times that a specific one of the operators will be operating thevehicle 15. Additionally, the Safe Driving Registration System 105 isprovided (e.g., via a User Interface 115) with CMD informationidentifying which CMD 25 or CMDs 25 are associated with each of theoperator(s), as well as information as to what incoming and outgoingcalls, text messages or other information should be allowed foremergency use or otherwise while services to such CMD(s) are beingcontrolled by the mobile services control system 10. Note that in thisembodiment, vehicle 15 incorporates a Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30that may or may not incorporate a Detection Engine 300 since therequirement you detect the location or position of an operator's CMD 25within the vehicle occupant enclosure 20 may not be necessary.

Referencing FIG. 1 and the flowchart in FIG. 10 , in step 950, a user(e.g., subscriber) provides input for configuring the Safe DrivingRegistration System 105 with the identification of thedriver-operator(s) associated with each particular vehicle 15 (or VDS 30therein), the identification(s) of each such vehicle (or VDS 30therein), as well as (if known) the times that each such driver-operatoris scheduled to operate a corresponding vehicle 15. Additionally,identifiers for the each of the CMDs 25 (e.g., cell phone numbers andwireless carrier provisioning the CMD) that is used by each of thedriver-operators and that are desired to be controlled 950 are alsoinput to the Safe Driving Registration System 105. For each of the VDSs30 (which in the present embodiment need not include the detectionengine 300, nor any of the position detectors), in step 951, the VDSmonitors the condition of its vehicle 15 (for instance whether thevehicle is moving or not through methods described elsewhere in thisspecification), and intermittently communicates the condition of thevehicle through wireless connection 65 to base station 70 and wirelessnetwork 60 to Vehicle Service Provider 100, and thereby to the SafeDriving Registration System 105 and Safe Driving Database 110. Theintermittent connection between the VDS 30 and the VSP 100 may bespecified so that a very limited amount of information is transmittedinfrequently (every minute or several minutes), so that even though theVDS reports the condition of the vehicle, the power requirements of theVDS are minimal, potentially enabling a solar-powered or battery poweredVDS that does not require connection to vehicle 15 power. When, throughthis connection, the VDS 30 indicates to the Safe Driving RegistrationSystem 105, that the vehicle 15 is not moving, then in step 960, theService Decision System 125 indicates within the Safe Driving Database110 that an associated CMD 25 (for a potential operator of the vehicle)does not require disabling by the Mobile Device Service Provider 130.However, when the VDS 30 indicates vehicle motion through thisconnection, then in step 952, the Service Decision System 125 utilizesthe information associated with that vehicle 15 that is within the SafeDriving Registration System 105 and Safe Driving Database 110, todetermine if a particular one or more CMDs 25 associated with thisvehicle should have one or more services disabled. If the CDMs 25 are tobe disabled, then in step 958 data indicative of such disablement isstored in the Safe Driving Database 110. Then in step 970, the mobiledevice service provider 130 for the CMD 25 obtains (via notification orpolling) to disable services for the CMD. In step 959, the informationwithin the Safe Driving Database, including information regardingallowable emergency numbers for a specific CMD, is made available to theMobile Device Service Provider (MDSP) through the Internet, or otherwired or wireless services to indicate that the MDSP should disable theCMD associated with vehicle 15. Alternately, in step 959, theinformation contained in the Safe Driving Database regarding aparticular CMD and the associated vehicle may be transmitted via theInternet or other wired or wireless services directly to the MDSPdirecting the MDSP to disable the CMD associated with vehicle 15.Optionally, as an alternative step to step 952, the system 10 mayutilize information derived from comparing the relative strength ofsignals received by Wireless Base Station 55 and Wireless Base Station70, and the locations of Wireless Base Station 55 and Wireless BaseStation 70 to determine if the CMD 25 is proximal to VDS 30 of aspecified vehicle 15, and therefore determine whether the CMD should bedisabled or whether that CMD 25 is distant from the VDS 30 of thespecified vehicle 15, and therefore even if vehicle 15 is moving, thisCMC should not be disabled. Optionally, as an alternative step to step952, the system 10 may incorporate a detection engine 300, throughtechniques described elsewhere in this specification to determine if aparticular CMD associated with vehicle 15 is within vehicle 15 andtherefore should be disabled. It is possible that the system 10described in this embodiment disables a CMD that is not within theassociated vehicle 15. In this instance, the system 10 may allow suchdisablement of services to be overridden through a variety of methodsthat may include input by an administrator or subscriber of the controlservices offered by the system 10 for a CMD account authorizing anoverride of the disabled CMD. Alternatively/optionally, the system 10may allow the transmittal of a text or voice message by the CMD to atelephone number associated with the system 10 that can authorize anoverride for the CMD (CMD User Override). Optionally, if the CMD sends atext or voice message that authorizes an override of the disabled CMD,the system 10 may send a text, email or voice message to theadministrator or subscriber of the CMD account indicating that a CMDUser Override has been executed as well as information as to thecondition of vehicle 15 associated with the CMD at the time of the CMDUser Override, so as to provide information to the administrator orsubscriber of the account. Note that such overrides may be logged foridentifying abuse of the CMD User Override. In the event of CMD UserOverride abuse, the administrator or subscriber of the CMD account candisable the CMD User Override for a specific CMD via user interface 115.

FIG. 11A discloses a system diagram of an illustrative embodiment for asystem for controlling mobile devices.

Referring to FIG. 11A, the system 1100 components are described indetail with reference to FIG. 1 . The system includes SDS 125 isconfigured to use a variety of different inputs from at least one of aCMD 25, VDS 35, and/or Vehicle 15 in this embodiment. At least one CMD25 may be associated or registered with the VDS 35 in that the CMD isregistered as being used by a potential driver(s) of vehicle 15associated with VDS 35, optionally including additional informationabout the potential driver(s). As with any embodiment of the invention aCMD may be associated or registered with a VDS 35 such that it is aregistered controllable mobile device, such registration simplifying theprocess of determining if CMDs are in vehicle 15 or in use by a driverby limiting the number of CMDs that are likely to be in the vehicle whenit is in an unsafe state such as when moving. The term registered andassociated are used interchangeably throughout. Alternatively, for someembodiments it is not necessary that the CMD be registered with VDS 35.

In a preferred embodiment, only a single CMD is associated or registeredto a VDS. Alternatively or optionally, more than one CMD may beassociated or registered with a VDS or vehicles. Moreover, theassociation of a CMD may change over time according to a predeterminedschedule. For example, on a Monday a first CMD may be associated with aVDS or vehicle, on Tuesday a second CMD (adding or deleting theassociation of the first CMD) may be associated with the same VDS orvehicle, and so on. In addition, more than one CMD may be associatedwith a VDS or vehicle for a business. Also, every CMD in a particulararea may be associated with a VDS or vehicle as needed. Also, every CMDassociated with a specific MDSP may be associated with a specific VDS,or multiple VDSs.

In one embodiment, SDS 125 is configured to use one or a combination oflocation, location error, velocity direction of travel, the location ofcell towers connected to a particular CMD 25 or VDS 35 and time sincestart of trip to determine the probability of a CMD 25 being in avehicle. This data may be obtained from the CMD 25, VDS 35, and/orVehicle 15 by either an electronic query from the SDS 125 (pull) or bydata provided to the SDS 125 without query as part of the operation(push), or by other techniques known in the art. Electronic query meanscommunication between two components (hardware, software and/orcombinations), e.g., including but not limited to any connection betweendevices such as over a wireless network, wired network, or othercommunication mechanism.

In one embodiment, the location of CMDs 25 that have been previouslybeen identified as possibly being used by a driver of a particularvehicle containing a VDS 35, e.g., a registered CMD associated to aspecific driver, can be combined with the location of the VDS 35 in theVehicle 15, and the estimated or calculated errors in each of thelocation measurements, and other data as such listed above to establishwhich of the CMDs are likely within the vehicle, and therefore couldpotentially distract the driver of the vehicle.

Moreover, in one embodiment the SDS 125 is operable to send a signal toMDSP 130, to the CMD 25 via the MDSP 130, or to third party providersthat can control functionality of the CMD 25 The MDSP 130 is operable tosend a disable signal to a predetermined CMD 25 or to disable orpartially disable operation of a predetermined CMD 25. By way ofdefinition, the term disable and partially disable shall be usedinterchangeable throughout the application, and shall mean to completelyor partially limit the functionality of a CMD. The term disable signalshall mean a signal that provides notification that a CMD should bepartially or fully disabled as used throughout the document. The disablesignal can be emitted from any component or module of the system asdescribed herein. Third party providers are operable to provide adisable signal to the CMD 25 or to disable or partially disableoperation of a predetermined CMD 25 on receiving a disable signal fromthe SDS. The CMD 25 may be operable to disable or partially disablepotentially distracting functions on receiving a disable signal from theSDS 125, MDSP or third party provider.

In another embodiment, when the CMD may possibly not be operable to bedisabled or for other reasons may be desired to not be disabled, thedisable signal for a specific CMD shall be recorded in the SDD alongwith the time it was sent, the identity of the CMD and the identity ofthe associated VDS, and other related information to allow a comparisonwith usage records for that CMD, provided by the MDSP, or another thirdparty provider of services to the CMD, so as to provide a record of whenthe CMD was used while the vehicle was in a potentially unsafe state,and optionally to provide alerts of potentially unsafe CMD use. Inembodiments of the invention, upon an enabling event or disabling eventsuch as sending a disable signal or disabling a CMD, the followinginformation is optionally simultaneously recorded in the SDD includingat least the time of disable signal, identities of VDSs, CMDs anddrivers, and other information related to the event.

In operation, various information, e.g., velocity, location, locationerror, direction of travel of the vehicle can be obtained directly fromthe VDS 35 using techniques such as vehicle GPS data, and velocity datafrom a GPS chip integral to the VDS 35. This information may also beobtained through sensing change in velocity from an accelerometerimbedded on the VDS 35, accelerometers in the vehicle, from vehicleinformation (such as speed) provided to the VDS through various means,or from velocity information provided by CMDs known to be within thevehicle, e.g., by GPS data or accelerometer data provided by the CMD 35within the vehicle. Optionally, the VDS 35 may be connected to an OBDIIport or other port in the vehicle to provide data from vehicle sensors.

FIG. 11B discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

Referring now to FIG. 11B, beginning of trip location information, e.g.,information associated with start of a trip in which a CMD maypotentially be distracting, is utilized to simplify and enhancedeterminations of whether CMDs are located within a vehicle or a CMD isassociated with a driver of a vehicle. Generally, the locations can bedivided into three categories including Multiple CMD Base Location(MCBL) information, Single CMD Base Location (SCBL) information andlocation information that is neither MCBL information nor SCBLinformation.

MCBL information is a predetermined geographic location such as a homeor place of business, where multiple drivers share a vehicle andtherefore a given vehicle associated with a VDS, may have any one ormore drivers with registered CMDs associated with the VDS be within thevehicle or driving the vehicle on trip start. In this case the SDS isoperable to discriminate which registered CMDs are in the vehicle fromthose not in the vehicle but potentially proximal to the MCBL A VDS isassociated or registered with one or more MCBLs, so that any given carat one of these locations may have one of a finite number of possibledrivers.

SCBL information is a predetermined geographic location such as a home,place of business, school, or shopping center, or similar location whereit is probable that only one driver associated with one or more CMDs isdriving a vehicle associated with a VDS on trip start. The VDS isassociated or registered with one or more SCBL, so that the driver ofthe vehicle can be quickly identified.

MCBL and/or SCBL information may be assigned via a User Interface 115 bya user or third party. The MCBL and/or SCBL such information includesuser information, VDS identities associated with the location,associated driver identities, associated CMD identities, physicaladdresses or GPS locations associated with a list of places, c.g., home,business, gym, shopping, schools, resorts, other locations of interestand optionally additional information may also be associated to the MCBLand/or SCBL information including but not limited to the probabilitythat specific drivers may be driving the vehicle when starting from thatlocation. In a preferred embodiment, MCBL and/or SCBL information isstored in the SDD 110.

Moreover, the SCBL or MCBL information may be acquired automatically bysystem 1100. The determination of SCBLs and MCBLs associated with agiven VDS and CMDs can be inferred over time from previous trips, byestablishing which CMDs are in the vehicle at a particular location ontrip start by other means described herein. When the probability of aparticular CMD being within a vehicle on trip start from a specificlocation, or is determined to be above a predetermined threshold, theassociated location can be identified as an SCBL or MCBL for that VDSand CMD(s). In the instance when only a single CMD is likely to bewithin the vehicle from that trip start location it can be defined as aSCBL. Alternately, the location may be defined as an MCBL for a givenVDS and a group of CMDs, when there is a likelihood that there are oneof several drivers within the vehicle at trip start. The locationinformation is added to the SDD 110 and associated with the particularMCBL and/or SCBL information.

Referring again to FIG. 11B, on trip start, an identification of whetheran SCBL or MCBL is associated with a VDS is performed (Step 1102). Thisidentification may be conducted by a SDS 125 query of SDD 110 forassociated or registered SCBLs and/or MCBLs to a particular VDS.

After determining whether the VDS is associated with a SCBL, MCBL orneither, the geographic location of the VDS is acquired (Step 1104). Thegeographic location of the VDS may be determined by deriving informationfrom the carrier network related to the VDS 35, such as the location ofthe cell tower 55, 70 that the VDS 35 is connected to, triangulation ofcell tower signals that the VDS 35 is connected to, location informationprovided wirelessly from a GPS device within the VDS 35, time of flightmethods of determining location from the VDS signal, various techniquesused for e911 emergency location of a mobile device, informationcaptured on the VDS 35 with respect to cell tower connection informationand relative signal strength from various cell towers, and assisted GPS(aGPS) enabled on the VDS 35, other technique described hereinthroughout, or other techniques as known in the art. In a preferredembodiment, the geographic location of the VDS is determined byaccessing the last location of the VDS stored in the SDD 110.

After the location of the VDS has been determined go to step 1106 if thedesired VDS is associated with a SCBL. Step 1106 requires the system todisable the CMD associated or registered with SCBL information. Thedisabling of the CMD may be conducted as described herein. Optionally, averification step 1108 may be performed.

The verification step 1108 includes determining the location of thedisabled CMD, and optionally other CMDs associated with the VDS, andcomparing it with the location of the VDS. This location of CMDs may beobtained from a pull query or push query of the CMD via the system 1100or with other techniques described herein. Typically, this is a low costmethod, such as using cell tower information, or information provided bya GPS-equipped CMD, either through push or pull techniques.Alternatively or optionally, the location of the CMD may be obtainedwith high cost location method, e.g., directly from a network, dataprovider, third party as a charged service.

The VDS location and CMD location are compared to establish if thedistance between them is within the predetermined threshold errordistance (PTED. The PTED is related to the accuracy of the locationinformation, and is typically less than 200 meters for GPS data, istypically less than 3000 meters for cell tower location techniques inrural areas with large distances between cell towers, and may be lessthan 500 meters in urban areas with small distances between cell towers.Of course this PTED can change depending on the accuracy of the CMDlocation and/or VDS location. The more accurate the CMD location and/orVDS location the shorter the PTED can be set. That is, if the accuracyfrom both the CMD and VDS are within 5 meters or less, then a 10 meterPTED can be used. Alternately, as the accuracy of CMD location and/orVDS location lessens, the greater the PTED.

The verification step 1108 is a double check that is optionallyperformed to confirm that the disabled CMD is within a vehicle and otherassociated CMDs are not. If the locations of the CMD and the VDS whencompared indicate a distance less than the PTED threshold step 1106 theCMD remains disabled and other CMDs identified to be within the vehicleare disabled, if the location of any associated CMDs and the VDS whencompared are greater than the PTED then the CMD can be enabled (whileother previously disabled CMDs remain disabled). Alternately a disablesignal can be sent when the distance between the CMD and VDS are suchthat when accuracies in location measurement are considered andoptionally combined with other information described herein, there is ahigh probability that the CMD is within the vehicle although thelocation information alone does not confirm the CMD is in the vehicle.

Optionally, after step 1102, previous trip information is provided bySDD 110 on a query from SDS 125, including the identify of CMDs withinthe vehicle at the end of the previous trip associated with the VDS, (asalso described in step 1114 below). If this information indicates that asingle registered CMD is different than that typically associated withthe SCDL was in the vehicle, then it is probable that the CMD in thevehicle on the previous trip is within the vehicle at the start of trip,and therefore step 1106 is performed with the CMD identified from theprevious trip, rather than with the CMD associated with the SCBL.Similarly if multiple associated CMDs are identified as having been inthe vehicle on the previous trip, the trip is treated as starting from aMCBL (as described in step 1110 below) with the CMDs associated with thestart of trip location as if the location was a MCBL, being thoseidentified as being within the vehicle on trip end.

If the desired VDS is associated with MCBL information, go to step 1110.Step 1110 requires the system 1100 to obtain the location of each of themultiple CMDs associated with the MCBL and VDS. The location of each ofthese CMDs may be obtained from a pull or push query of the CMD asdescribed herein. Typically, this is high accuracy method. Alternativelyor optionally a low accuracy location may be obtained from cell towerinformation or other low accuracy, low cost means, or other means can beused to determine if a registered CMD is in the vehicle our outside ofthe vehicle.

The location of each CMD is compared to the starting location of step1104 and the VDS location. The location of the CMDs and VDS associatedwith that MCBL are determined by means described herein. If the error inthe CMD and VDS location measurement allows discrimination of CMDs inthe vehicle from those remaining at the MCBL, then the SDS proceeds tostep 1112. Alternately the SDS can utilize a Predetermined ThresholdDistance (PTD), which is a threshold distance between a VMD and a basestation that given typical CMD and VMD location accuracies has a highprobability of enabling discrimination of CMDs remaining at the basefrom those in a vehicle. The PTD is typically greater than 100 meterswith GPS-based location measurements. Of course this PTD can changedepending on the accuracy of the CMD location and/or VDS location. Themore accurate the CMD location and/or VDS location the shorter the PTDcan be set. That is, if the accuracy from both the CMD location and/orVDS location is 5 meters or less than a 10 meter predetermined thresholddistance can be used. Alternately, as the accuracy of CMD locationand/or VDS location worsens, the PT can be set to greater values to takein account the increased likely error of location. By way of example,the PTD may be greater than 500 m in urban areas with a high cell towerconcentration when a non-GPS cell tower-based location is used, andgreater than 3000 m in rural areas of low cell tower concentration whencell tower-based location is used.

If the CMD and VDS location error is so large as to not allowdiscrimination between CMDs located at the MCBL from CMDs in thevehicle, then the SDS waits a predetermined amount of time and step 1110is repeated and the location of the CMDs and the VDS again compared.This step can be repeated until there is sufficient distance between theVDS and the MCBL to discriminate associated VMDs in the vehicle.

Alternately, the SDS may wait a predetermined time after trip start todetermine location of the CMDs and VDS, so as to allow sufficient timefor there to be adequate distance between the VDS and the MCBL todiscriminate the location of CMDs in our out of the vehicle. Thepredetermined amount of time may be in a range from less than 15 secondsto five minutes or greater. This time may be set by the user interface115 as a criteria in the MCBL information and stored in the SDD 110, orbe a default amount. Once there is sufficient distance between the VDSand MCBL, the CMDs within the vehicle, as described herein, are disabled(Step 1112).

If the desired VDS is not associated with either a SCBL or MCBL go tostep 1114. On trip start, the SDS queries the SDD for the most recentlocation of the CMDs registered to the VDS. The CMDs that weredetermined to be within the vehicle in the previous trip, are consideredto be potentially within the vehicle for the current trip. CMDs thatwere not in the vehicle at the end of the previous trip are assumed tonot be in the vehicle. Similarly, any registered CMDs that were in thevehicle during the previous trip, but whose last known location is suchthat they could not be in the vehicle at the beginning of the trip, areconsidered to not be in the vehicle (for instance, a registered CMD thathad a location 30 miles from the VDS 15 minutes prior to the start oftrip, would be considered to not be in the vehicle, as it would have tohave travelled at 120 mph to be in the vehicle). Next, the CMD or CMDsthat are considered to be in the vehicle are disabled. (Step 1116).Optionally, a verify step 1108 may be performed as previously describedherein.

In one embodiment, the SDS is operable to receive information as to theidentification and location of the cell tower that a given registeredCMD is connected to, and thereby determine when the CMD switches itsconnection from one tower to another, thereby indicating that CMD is inmotion providing additional information that allows the SDS to determinethere is an increased probability the CMD is in a vehicle if theassociated VDS is has also been determined to be in motion, increasingthe ability of the SDS to quickly discriminate CMDs within our separatefrom the vehicle. Alternately, as the SDS receives information that theCMD has not switched to a different cell tower although the associatedVDS is in motion for a period of time, the SDS can determine that it isless probable that the CMD is in the vehicle, increasing the performanceof the SDS in a similar way.

In addition, velocity information of the CMDs that is provided throughvarious means such as GPS and network based velocity determination meanscan be used to aid in discriminating CMDs that could be in a movingvehicle from those that are stationary and therefore not in a vehicle.For example, if it is determined that the VDS is in motion, and a CMDassociated or registered with a VDS is not moving, it can be inferredthat the CMD is not in the moving vehicle and should not be disabled,and similarly the probability that the other CMDs associated with thevehicle is raised allowing potentially a more accurate or more timelydetermination of which CMD should be disabled.

Similarly, if the velocity of associated or registered CMDs differs fromthe velocity of the VDS it can be inferred it is not in the associatedvehicle, or, if it matches the velocity of the VDS it is likely in thevehicle. Similarly, the direction of the velocity of either the VDS orthe CMD can also be used to further clarify the velocity information andinfer if a CMD is in a target vehicle or not depending if the directionof velocity of a CMD matches that of a VDS or not.

In one embodiment, location information from previous trips may be usedto improve the ability of the SDS to identify if a CMD is in a vehicleas described previously. This information may be stored in a memory,e.g., the SDS 125, SDD 110 or both. The location of a MCBL or SCBL, maybe provided by the subscriber via the SDRS 105 and stored in the SDD110, or this location may be inferred by the SDS from data from previoustrips. By way of example, if location information indicates that a highpercentage of trips starting from a particular geographical location aredetermined to occur with a specific CMD in a vehicle associated with aVDS, then it can be inferred that location is a SCBL associated withthat specific VDS and CMD, and similarly if previous trip informationcaptured by the SDD and or SDS indicates that multiple CMDs areassociated with a vehicle VDS are present in trips that start from thatlocation, or that CMDs associated with the vehicle are frequently atthat location, then it can be inferred that that location is a MCBL forthat VDS and CMDs. As described elsewhere, this information can then beused by the SDS to calculate the probability that a specific CMD is in avehicle at trip start independent of CMD location information, therebyimproving the ability of the SDS to quickly determine which CMDs todisable.

In one embodiment, on trip start the SDS is operable to compare the tripstart location for a vehicle associated with a VDS (determined eitherfrom the location captured at the end of the previous trip, or fromlocation information provided by the VDS at trip start) with thelocation of a MCBL associated with the VDS, and in the case where thelocation of trip start is distant from the MCBL, the SDS is operable todetermine that there is a high probability that the CMD in the vehicleduring the previous trip is the CMD in the vehicle at current tripstart, thereby allowing an immediate disable signal to be sent, or inother ways increase the effectiveness of the SDS by increasing theeffectiveness of discrimination.

In one embodiment, on trip start the SDS is operable to compare thelocation of the VDS on trip start with the geographical locationassociated with a SCBL for that VDS, allowing the SDS to determine thereis a high probability that the CMD associated with that SCBL and VDS iswithin the vehicle, thereby allowing an immediate disable signal to besent, or in other ways increase the effectiveness of the SDS byincreasing the effectiveness of discrimination.

In one embodiment, on trip start the SDS is operable to compare variousCMDs last known locations with the time and geographic location of atrip start in order to establish on trip start whether a particular CMDhas a low probability of being within a vehicle. In this embodiment, theSDS is operable to calculate the distance between the last knownlocation of a CMD and compare that with a VDS start of trip location, aswell as the time of last known location and the time of trip start tothereby calculate the velocity that the CMD would have to have beentravelling to be in the vehicle at trip start, and compare that with athreshold velocity to establish the probability that the CMD is withinthe vehicle. By way of example, if fifteen minutes prior to the start ofa new trip, an associated CMD was identified to be 30 miles away fromthe VDS there is a low probability that CMD can be in the vehicle as theCMD would have to have been travelling at 120 mph to be in the vehicle.Thereby, establishing the CMD does not require disabling, and increasingthe probability that other associated CMDs may be in the vehicle,thereby increasing the effectiveness of the SDS by increasing theeffectiveness of discrimination.

In one embodiment, the SDD may accumulate location information over timefrom VMD and the CMD associated with the VMD. With this information theSDS may autonomously determine home or base areas, or areas where thereis a high probability a trip may start with one of several CMDs, such asa home where all CMDs may be frequently located (a MCBL), or alternatelya location where there is a high probability only one CMD is located andtherefore a high probability that at trip that starts there isassociated with that CMD (a SCBL).

Information recorded in the SDD, e.g., location of VDS, location of CMD,velocity information, direction information, SCBL information, MCBLinformation, location of CMDs previous trips, e.g., trip endinginformation, CMDs identified in vehicle on previous trip, can be used toimprove the performance of the system and lessen latency, by a) allowingimmediate disabling with subsequent verification, b) immediatelow-accuracy location information, or immediate high accuracy locationinformation to increase the certainty that a CMD is in a vehicle, or c)lessen the time necessary to make the determination that a CMD is in avehicle or, d) eliminate the need for location accuracy queries, e)allow the use of a low or high accuracy location information queryperformed significantly after trip start to provide a check to confirmthat a particular CMD is in our out of the car after a more immediatedisable signal has been sent to the CMD.

FIG. 12A discloses a system diagram of an illustrative embodiment for asystem for controlling mobile devices.

Referring to FIG. 12A, the system 1200 includes a CMD 25, a VDS 35 andSDS 125 in communication with each other. The system 1200 includes othercomponents as described with further detail in system 10 of FIG. 1 andthe subset of components are only shown for convenience and not meant tobe limiting. The system 1200 is operable to determine whether a CMD isin a vehicle and also operable to disable the CMD.

The VDS 35 is operable to sense a unique wireless signal (UWS) 1205 froma CMD 25 or plurality of CMDs. In a preferred embodiment, the VDS 35 canbe configured with an RF receiver or other type of receiver to receiveand interpret the UWS 1205.

The UWS 1205 may be any type of communication signal, e.g., a Bluetoothsignal, low energy Bluetooth signal, ZigBee, WiFi or other wirelesssignal. Sensing of UWS 1205 from the CMD may be closed-loop 1202, inwhich a handshake type connection is made between the VDS and the CMD(such as a Bluetooth handshake) or open-loop connection 1204, in whichthe VDS identifies a UWS transmitted from the CMD but does not create ahandshake connection with the device.

In one embodiment, the UWS 1205 includes an identifier that is unique toa particular CMD. The identifier may be an encrypted or non-encryptedalpha numeric code that is compatible with an established protocol,e.g., Bluetooth protocol or other IEEE protocol. Moreover, more than oneunique identifier may in the UWS 1205, e.g., an established protocolidentifier and a priority protocol identifier. In a preferredembodiment, the UWS is the transmission signal from the CMD that is usedto communicate with a cell tower and therefore requires no additionaltransmission capability on the CMD. In this embodiment, the VDS isoperable to recognize the UWS as distinct and unique to the CMD.Optionally, the MSDS may provide information to the VDS by various meansto enable it to decrypt and or recognize the UWS.

In this embodiment, the VDS 35 is operable to receive the UWS 1205 andinterpret the signal so as to be able to identify whether the signal isbeing transmitted by a specific CMD 35 associated with the VDS 35, andto thereby send a signal to the SDS 125 that a particular CMD 35 is inor proximal to the vehicle. Moreover, the UWS 1205 may be usercontrolled therefore being able to be disabled by a user, eitherinadvertently or intentionally, so as to conserve power of the CMD, orto attempt to defeat the system.

FIG. 12B discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

Referring to FIG. 12B, provisioning is performed to establish orassociate a particular CMD with a UWS 1205. The provisioning (Step 1220)may be conducted by at least three different provisioning techniquesincluding i.) entering the desired UWS 105 identifier associated with aparticular CMD to SDD 110 via SDRS 105 or other part of the system, ii.)locating the CMD near the VDS, the VDS receiving the UWS 105 signalassociated with a particular CMD and registering it as associated with aCMD identified as within the vehicle via various means including SDRS105, and iii.) automatically storing a UWS 105 associated with aparticular CMD in the SDD 110, by identifying that a CMD is within avehicle containing a VDS by other means described herein, and thenregistering the UWS 105 received by the VDS as associated with that CMD.

Next, sensing is performed with the VDS (Step 1222) to determine whetherthe VDS is in a safe or unsafe state. An unsafe state is a condition inwhich the user of CMD could potentially be distracted from driving forinstance, they are in a vehicle that is or will be moving. Indicationsof an unsafe can include information the establishes the vehicle ismoving, that a vehicle is above a certain speed threshold, that a keyhas been turned on, that a battery voltage indicates that a vehicle isprepared to move, that a vehicle is in a location such as on a highway,engine RPM indicative that a vehicle may moving or is about to move, orvibration that indicates that a vehicle is moving or may be moving.

Moreover, an unsafe state may include a condition in which the vehicleis not moving, but that it is in an unsafe condition where distractioncan be a problem. By way of definition, throughout this document theterms moving or in motion, shall mean any indication that the vehicle isabout to begin a trip, is in mid-trip, and/or is in some other unsafestate where a CMD could potentially be distracting, independent ofwhether at that point in time the vehicle is actually moving.

If an unsafe state is sensed go to step 1224. In step 1224, the UWS 1205is communicated to the SDS 1208 from the VDS 35 with communicationtechniques described herein.

Next, comparing the UWS 1205 with a CMD associated with the VDS isperformed via SDS or other part of the system 13 (Step 1226). Thecomparing step 1226 may include referencing tables in the SDD 110 todetermine whether a particular CMD is associated with the UWS 1205, orother information available electronically, including data collected forother means that correlates a unique UWS signature to a particular CMDand or optionally a VDS.

If an associated CMD is found for the compared UWS 1205, go to step 1228in which the associated CMD is disabled (Step 1228) using techniquesdescribed herein. If no associated CMD is found for the UWS go to Step1230. Optionally, after Step 1228, if only one of multiple CMDsassociated with a VDS are identified and disabled, go to Step 1231 toestablish if there are other CMDs within the vehicle that may havedisabled UWS via a query. The query in Step 1231 in a preferredembodiment is a low cost query.

In Step 1230, the location of CMD associated with the VDS are queried asa means to determine if CMDs are within the vehicle. The location may bequeried as described with reference to FIG. 11B or other techniquesdescribed herein may be used to determine whether an associated CMD iswithin the vehicle. If an associated CMD is determined to be within thevehicle go to step 1228 and disable CMD. Moreover, as the CMD isdetermined to be within the vehicle but a UWS associated with the CMDwas not received by the VDS, it indicates that the UWS was disabled, theSDS can optionally send an alert. (Step 1234).

The alert provides notice to a third-party or the owner that the ownerof CMD 25 has inadvertently or purposefully disabled the UWStransmission communication means, e.g., Bluetooth, and the like. Thealert can be transmitted by email, text message, through the internet tothe user via a web interface, or by other means. The alert may includeone or more of the following: identity of the CMD, identity of the VDSor vehicle, identity of the CMD owner, time of alert, number of previousalerts, and location of the VDS at the time of alert. The alert may alsobe sent directly to the CMD owner to alert them to reeneable the UWS.This alert provides a means for ensuring that the UWS remains enabledthereby improving the effectiveness of the SDS.

After disabling a CMD in step 1228, optionally a check may be performedto determine if multiple CMDs are in a vehicle by querying location ofregistered or associated CMDs with the VDS (Step 1231 and Step 1232). Asit is a check, rather than a primary means for determining if a CMD isin the vehicle, the query may be delayed to ensure adequate separationfrom the start of trip location, or may be a low cost query, so as tolessen the frequency and cost of location queries. If additionalregistered CMDs are found in the vehicle, disable the CMDs (Step 1228)and optionally send an alert (Step 1234).

Alternately step 1228 and step 1230 may determine whether a CMD is in avehicle, or should be disabled by other means described herein that mayor may not require a location query.

FIG. 13A discloses a system diagram of an illustrative embodiment for asystem for controlling mobile devices.

Referring to FIG. 13A, the system 1300 includes a Velocity NotificationTransmitter (VNT) 17, vehicle 15, CMD 25, a VDS 35, a VelocityNotification Transmitter Processor (VNTP) 19 and a SDS 125 incommunication with each other. The system 1300 includes other componentsas described with further detail in system 10 of FIG. 1 and foregoingcomponents are shown for convenience.

The VNT 17 described herein can be utilized in any aspect of theinvention. In one embodiment, the VNT 17 is a subset of the VDS 35 as aseparate hardware and/or software feature. Alternatively, the VNT 17 maybe a standalone hardware and/or software feature. In this embodiment,the VNT 17 is located within the vehicle 15, and provides a uniquewireless signal over a short range whenever the vehicle 15 is moving.The unique wireless signal is of a form that is received by the CMD on asimilar frequency to that used for communication between the CMD and theMDSP, or some other frequency able to be received by the CMD duringnormal operation. The signal may be similar to that provided by a cellcarrier femtocell repeater, or it may be some other signal that the CMDis operable to receive without the need for CMD software or firmwarebeyond that needed for normal operation, or with minimal modificationsor minimal software or firmware required to receive and interpret theVNT signal.

In one embodiment, the VNT is located within the vehicle and provides aunique wireless signal over a short range whenever the vehicle is in anunsafe state. The wireless signal is configured to be received by a CMD.In the preferred embodiment, the wireless signal is transmitted at afrequency similar to that of a cell tower, however, the wireless signalmay be Bluetooth, Zigby, or any other signal that has a CMDtransmission/receive frequency or other similar RF protocol to permitcommunication with a CMD. The wireless signal contains a uniqueidentifier for the VDS.

In one embodiment, the unique wireless signal provided by the VNT 17 istransmitted at a frequency similar to that of a network cell tower, sothat RF receivers on the CMD used for communicating to cell towers alsoreceive the signal from the VNT, with the range of the VNT transmissionsuch that it is only received by CMDs within the vehicle or near thevehicle.

Moreover, the unique wireless signal transmitted by the VNT 17 can beformatted so as to appear as an additional cell tower to the CMD, with atower ID including a unique identifying characteristic that variesdepending on the velocity or state of the vehicle and unique wirelesssignal can also include identifying characteristic that are unique tothe VDS. For example, the unique wireless signal can be configured withany existing communication protocol to mimic a cell tower or to providesome other form of signal that will be forwarded to the MDSP 130.

In one embodiment, a CMD that has received a unique identifyingcharacteristic from the VNT processes the signal as if it were a celltower. Thereby, the CMD provides the VNT cell tower information to theMDSP 130 or a part of MDSP 130 communication protocols, with thepresence of the unique identifier data providing data to the MDSP thatindicates that a specific CMD is within a vehicle associated with aspecific VDS, and the vehicle is in an unsafe state. For instance, thecell tower ID information may be formatted to be processed by the CMD asa functional cell tower ID, but contain unique information within thecell tower ID that indicates to the VNTP that the cell tower ID containsinformation associated with the System.

In a preferred embodiment, the unique wireless signal from the VNT is ofa low signal strength, and/or sends other information that prevents theCMD from connecting to it as a functioning cell tower, e.g., the uniquewireless signal may include a tower busy signal to prevent connection orother signal as known in the art in order to prevent connection. TheMDSP 130 identifies this unique wireless signal through a VNT processoridentifier (VNTP) 19.

In one embodiment, the unique wireless signal includes a VNTID as partof the signal generated from the VNT. The VNTID is configured to includea unique identifier of a VDS, information about the state of the VDS,e.g., unsafe state or safe state, and/or may include other informationabout the vehicle, e.g., velocity, direction, RPM, on, off, batteryvoltage, and the like. The VNT processor and/or software is operable toprocess the VNTID and identify it as information associated with any ofthe systems described herein, to process the VNTTD so as to identify theunique identifying information associated with the VDS and to associatethat information with a unique CMD identifier, such as the CMD phonenumber.

In one embodiment, access to the VNTID can be provided by the VNTIDthrough the internet, or other means to the SDS 125 indicating thepresence of a particular CMD within a particular moving vehicle. Thisinformation is then combined with other collected information relevantto distracted driving to determine if a particular CMD is being used bya driver of a moving vehicle, and if so, a notification is transmittedto the MDSP, third party network element provider, or wirelessly to themobile device itself, enabling the MDSP, a third party network elementprovider, or software on the CMD itself to limit various distractingfunctions provided by the CMD using means described elsewhere in thisdescription, or to disable the CMD using techniques described elsewhere.

In another embodiment, the VNTTD can be interpreted by software orfirmware within the CMD to indicate that the CMD is within a movingvehicle 15. The CMD upon receipt of an interpreted signal then providesnotification wirelessly from the CMD to the SDS via the MDSP, that aparticular CMD is within vehicle 15 and the vehicle is in an unsafestate, allowing the SDS to disable the CMD through techniques includedherein.

In one embodiment, the VNT 17 is operable to connect to the MDSP, eitherdirectly through a wireless connection, or through the CMD to the MDSP,to receive provisioning information necessary for the VNT to provisionitself as a cell tower, in an equivalent manner to how a femtocellrepeater is provisioned to act as a cell tower.

FIG. 13B discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

Referring to FIG. 13B, the flowchart describes disabling a CMD byutilizing a VNTID without the need for specialized software on the CMD,and/or the need for any VDS to connect to the network.

Initially, sensing of the VDS is performed to determine a safe or unsafestate of the vehicle. An unsafe state is a condition of the vehicle thatindicates that a CMD may be potentially distracting as previouslydescribed herein. Again, an unsafe state or condition is not limited towhen the vehicle is moving, but may include an unsafe condition where adistraction can occur.

In one embodiment, movement or other indication of a potentially unsafestate, such as sensing vehicle start or key on may be sensed directly byconnection to the vehicle computer network either by the OBDII port orsome other wireless or directly connected means, or the movement may besensed by a GPS device connected to the VNT, or by accelerometersconnected to the VNT.

If an unsafe state is sensed a unique wireless signal and VNTID istransmitted from the VNT 17 (Step 1304). Next, a CMD receives the uniquewireless signal and VNTID and retransmits VNTID via communicationnetwork and MDSP 130 (Step 1306).

In one embodiment, access to this data is then provided by the MDSPthrough the internet, or other means to the SDS indicating the presenceof a CMD in a vehicle that is in an unsafe state. This information isthen combined with other collected information relevant to distracteddriving to determine if it is probable that a particular CMD is beingused by a driver of a vehicle in an unsafe state, and if so, anotification is transmitted to the MDSP, third party network elementprovider, or wirelessly to the CMD itself via the MDSP, enabling theMDSP, a third party network element provider, or software on the CMDitself to limit various distracting functions provided by the CMD, suchas texting, computer software applications requiring interaction withthe mobile device owner, or talking on the cell phone, or through othertechniques described herein.

Next, the VNTP processing is performed (Step 1308). The VNTP processingreceives information from the network including the VNTID and theidentity of the CMD associated with the VNTID. The VNTP then processesthis information to extract the VDS identity, information as to thestate of the vehicle, and the identity of the CMD associated with theVNTID. Next the processing includes sending the bundled information fromthe VNTP 19 to the SDS 125.

The SDS 125 is operable to determine the probability that the CMD is inuse by a driver of a vehicle by combining the bundled information fromthe VNTP 19 with information related to the CMD, the vehicle and thedriver that is available to the SDS via the SDD, using techniquesdescribed herein (Step 1310) and if the SDS determines it is likely theCMD is in use by a driver of the vehicle disable the CMD usingtechniques described herein (Step 1312).

FIG. 14 discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to determine if a CMD isin a vehicle with a VDS.

In this embodiment, additional information is utilized in thedetermination of whether to disable a CMD or multiple CMDs. Thisadditional information may be obtained in a variety of different waysand can include information specific to a particular driver includinginformation collected during provisioning (Driver Profile Information,DPI), information related to the driving behavior of a driver or vehicle(Driving Behavior Pattern Information, DBPI), information related toprevious and recent trips (Recent Trip Data, RTD), information relatedto the frequency and nature of CMD overrides (Driving Override Record,DOR), information collected during a trip including but not limited toinformation related to a vehicle, driver, CMD, VDS, or other information(Real Time Vehicle Data, RTVD). All of this information may be stored inthe SDD 110 or other storage device, or may be processed by the SDS andnot stored.

This information can be transmitted by the VDS to the SDS duringprevious trips, either via data collected from the vehicle via the OBDIIport, through integral velocity, location and acceleration sensors onthe VMD, other sensors integral to the VDS, or similar data collectedand transmitted by a CMD within the vehicle, as well as data transmittedor captured during a previous trip from other sources associated with avehicle, CMD, VDS or driver.

In one embodiment, this information is used to generate a unique DPBIfor each of the drivers associated with CMDs.

In one embodiment, the DPBI and DPI includes driving patterns andinformation associated with specific portions of a trip (such as aspecified period at the beginning or end of a trip), or for specificlocations during a trip (such as behaviors at stop signs, or geographiclocations with specific speed restrictions), or data collectedthroughout the trip. Moreover, the DPBI can include such information asacceleration rates, maximum speed, average speed, trip start locations,trip end locations, driving behaviors at stop signs, driving behaviorsduring cornering, vehicle route information during a portion of thetrip, linear acceleration patterns, braking patterns, corneringacceleration patterns, rpm vs. location patterns, rpm vs. velocitypatterns, rpm patterns, times of day a specific driver has beendetermined to be likely to be driving, probability a certain driver willbe driving a vehicle, probability that a certain driver will be drivinga vehicle when there are more than one registered CMDs in the vehicle,times of day a particular driver has been determined to be likely to bedriving along a certain route, driver seat position, time to firstmotion of the vehicle after key-on, velocity while backing up, selectionof radio channel, choice of audio or video entertainment, keyidentification data, and any other information able to be captured bythe onboard vehicle electronics, other sensors, provisioning or throughother techniques that could be unique to a particular driver.

In one embodiment, RTVD may include self-identification information(Self ID Information) that may be intentionally sent by the driver ofthe vehicle to identify them as the driver such as sending a textmessage or making a call that can be received by the SDS and associatedwith a specific driver, opening a self-ID application or website ontheir CMD that transmits the identity of the driver to the SDS, byperforming actions unique to a particular driver of the vehicle that canbe sensed by the VDS via the OBDII connection or other means of sensingvehicle information, and transmitted to the SDS, such as, but notlimited to, blinking the high-beam lights a certain number of times,turning on lights a certain amount of times, tapping the brakes acertain number of times or any other means for communicating to the SDSthat a specific individual is driving the vehicle.

In one embodiment, the SDS disables all CMDs associated or registeredwith a VDS on sensing an unsafe state until a driver of the associatedvehicles self identifies using communication techniques describedherein, providing a motivation for the driver to self-identify due tothe inconvenience from an associated CMD of a non-driver being disabled.

In one embodiment, DOR can include data from previous trips, duringwhich certain individuals in the vehicle transmitted a request tooverride a disable command from the SDS for a specific CMD, as describedelsewhere in this description, indicating a possibility that the CMD wasat that time not associated with the driver of a vehicle and or notwithin the vehicle, implying the SDS had made an incorrect determinationthat a particular CMD was in a vehicle, or associated with the driver ofthe vehicle. This information then being used to improve the SDS abilityto discriminate by identifying possible errors in probabilitycalculations that can be corrected, either as an autonomous capabilityof the SDS software (self learning), or by manual reprogramming of theSDS software.

DBPI can be associated with a specific driver by various means, such aspositively identifying the driver later in a trip by other means such ascollocation of a CMD within the vehicle, statistically by identifying aparticular unique driver profile, and then later associating it with aspecific driver when the collected data indicates a high probabilitythat the unique driver profile is associated with a specific driver, byself identifying as described herein or other techniques that associatea driver with a particular driving pattern.

DPI for specific drivers associated with a specific vehicle can also becaptured directly via the SDRS user interfaces. For example, informationon the probability that a specific driver will be driving a specificvehicle, probability that a driver will start a trip at a particulartime of day, geographic locations that a particular driver often startsa trip from (for instance a home or place of business), a location thedriver often ends a trip at, probability that if multiple registereddrivers are in a specific vehicle, that a particular registered driverwill be the driver of that vehicle (for instance, when the family is inthe car, the mother is likely to be the driver), the probability that aspecific driver will “self police” and voluntarily not use a distractingdevice, and the probability that a specific driver will not use adistracting device when other passengers are in the vehicle.

Collected data can also include data collected by the SDS during recenttrips (Recent Trip Data). This data can be associated with a) thespecific VDS b) concurrent trips associated with a different VDS thathas associated drivers that are also associated with the specific VDS,c) most recent location of CMDs associated with the specific VDS, d)location of the previous end of trip for the specific VDS, e) locationof previous end-of-trips for associated VDS's, and other recent tripdata specific to a particular VDS and the associated CMDs.

In one embodiment, the SDS incorporates a Real Time CMD DrivingProbability (RTCDP) processor as a component of the SDS which isoperable to compare RTVD information with DPI, DBPI, RTD, DOR, Self IDinformation and other information (collectively the ID Information) tocalculate the probability that a particular CMD is either in a vehicleor associated with the driver of the vehicle, the CMD DrivingProbability (CDP). The RTCDP is operable to compare information andpatterns represented in the Real Time Vehicle Data with information andpatterns in the ID Information to calculate the CDP. In one embodiment,the RTCDP processor identifies individual elements of similarity ordissimilarity between the RTVD information and the ID Information, andcalculates the CDP by applying historical weighting factors to eachareas of similarity that increase probability and then applyinghistorical weighting factors to each area of dissimilarity the decreasesprobability and calculating the resulting CDP by calculating aggregateprobability based on these individual probabilities. For example, if acomparison of RTVD and DPI information shows that a vehicle is beingdriven at a time of day where there is a low probability an individualwith a given CMD would be driving, this would indicate a decreasedprobability for that CMD being distracting, while simultaneously, thebehavior of the associated vehicle at a stop sign may be similar to thatassociated with DPBI information associated with that same CMD andindividual indicating a higher probability that the CMD is associatedwith the vehicle driver, while simultaneously, the location of thevehicle matches route information within the DPBI that indicates anincreased probability that the CMD is associated with the driver of thevehicle. The RTCDP then uses weighting factors for each of theseprobabilities (established historically from the data, or enteredmanually) to calculate a composite CDP, which may or may not indicate ahigh probability that the CMD is being used by a driver and potentiallydistracting. In similar ways the RTCDP can compare any RTVD with otherID information data or other data to identify elements of similarity ordifference between the RTVD and ID information and thereby calculateaggregate CDP for comparison with threshold probability values fordisabling.

In one embodiment, the time of day that a particular vehicle is beingdriven is compared with DPI indicating the probability that a driver isdriving at that time of day.

In one embodiment, the route of a vehicle in the first portion of tripis compared with DBPI related to the routes taken by specific drivers toindicate the probability that a specific driver is driving the vehicle.

In one embodiment, at least one of the velocity, acceleration andde-acceleration information of a vehicle at or near a stop sign iscompared with DBPI related to at least one of the velocity, accelerationand de-acceleration information of specific drivers at or near stopsigns, indicating whether they typically do a rolling stop, or a fullstop, or other behavior that determines the probability that a specificdriver is driving the vehicle.

In another embodiment, the RTVD information related to accelerationsduring cornering is compared with DBPI related to specific drivercornering to indicate the probability that a specific driver is driving.

In another embodiment, the RTVD information related to velocity comparedto speed limit, or velocity on a particular segment of a route, iscompared with equivalent DBPI to determine the probability that aspecific driver is driving.

In another embodiment, RTVD information related to the time betweenturning the key of the vehicle on and first motion, which can beassociated with individual-specific time taken to prepare to drive afterturning on the car, is compared with equivalent DBPI to determine theprobability that a specific driver is driving.

In another embodiment, RTVD information on braking patterns during aparticular segment of a trip, or at any point in the trip, such asaverage de-acceleration or maximum de-acceleration are compared withequivalent DBPI to determine the probability that a specific driver isdriving.

In another embodiment, RTVD information on rpm vs. velocity, indicativeof individual-specific shifting patterns in both automatic and manualtransmissions is compared with equivalent DBPI to determine theprobability that a specific driver is driving.

In another embodiment, probabilities from individual positive andnegative correlations between RTVD and DPBI information are combined toprovide a more accurate composite CDP.

Referring now to FIG. 14 , the state of VDS is determined by the SDSthrough means described herein throughout (Step 1402). When the VDSsenses that the vehicle is in a potentially unsafe state, such as theengine is running, or the vehicle is moving, or another unsafe state asdescribed elsewhere, it notifies the SDS via any communication techniqueas described herein of the potentially unsafe state. After an unsafestate has been sensed go to step 1404.

The RTCDP component of the SDS is operable to compare RTVD informationwith SDD data including at least one, or a combination of Driver ProfileInformation, Self ID Information, Driving Behavior Pattern Information,Recent Trip Data, Driver Disable Record Information and other datarelated to identifying the driver of a vehicle. (Step 1404).

Next, to determine the probability that a specific driver associatedwith a particular CMD is driving a vehicle (CMD Driving Probability,CDP) is calculated (Step 1406) using techniques described herein. TheSDS is operable to compare the CPD with a threshold probability(Threshold Probability for Disabling, TPD) that is a probability valuethat establishes if the SDS should enable or disable a CMD, and has beenpre-established to provide optimum SDS performance, or is autonomouslyderived by the SDS by comparing the accuracy of disable discriminationfrom previous trips (determined by evaluating DOR information or othermeans, Step 1408).

When the TPD is exceeded, the SDS is operable to send a signal todisable, or partially disable the function of a specific CMD, oralternately to record the identity of the driver in the SDS forsubsequent comparison with CMD use records to report distracting CMD useas described elsewhere in this description (Step 1410).

Optionally, when the TPD is not exceeded, the SDS is operable to querylocations of CMD associated with the VMD and compare those locationswith the VMD location using techniques described elsewhere in thisdescription, or to utilize any other information or process describedherein that improves the ability of the SDS to determine if the CMDshould be disabled (Step 1412). Moreover, the SDS is operable to updatethe CDP in real-time as additional information is received by the VMD(Step 1414).

Optionally, a verify step 1416 is performed to confirm CMD within thevehicle via a location query of CMD associated with the VDS throughmeans described elsewhere. The verify step is describe herein withreference to step 1108 of FIG. 11B. If the verify step indicates thatCMD that would not be distracting have been disabled send a reenablecommand (Step 1418) and optionally record this information in the SDD toallow the performance of the SDS to be improved

In one embodiment, information associated with a SDS determination ofwhen CMD may be used in a distracting manner is used to monitorinstances of distracting CMD use rather than to disable the CMD. In thisembodiment, information is recorded in the SDD or other means, or isprovided real time to the SDS, related to the likelihood of the a CMDbeing in a vehicle that is in an unsafe state and possibly being used ina distracting manner. This information can include the identification ofCMD that would have been disabled by the SDS by means described herein,the time the CMD would have been disabled, the location of the VDS, thecalculated probability the CMD is in the vehicle, the calculatedprobability the CMD is in use by a driver, the location of the CMD, theidentity of the vehicle, the velocity of the vehicle during a trip, thetime that the CMD would have been enabled, the location at which the CMDwould have been enabled, and other data from the SDS or RTVD associatedwith the use of a CMD in a distracting manner. For instance, the SDS mayrecord information related to when a CMD was in a vehicle that was in anunsafe state, when a CMD would have been disabled by the system, when aCMD would have been enabled, by the system and the identity of the VDSit was associated with during the trip. The SDS is operable to comparethis information as to when a CMD was in a vehicle in an unsafe state,or the when a CMD was associated with the driver of a vehicle in anunsafe state, with CMD usage information provided by the MSDP or otherparties indicating the time and nature of CMD function or operation (forinstance, texting sending and receiving, call sending or receiving, orother use of the CMD) as well as any other information related topotential distracting use of a CMD. This usage information can beprovided autonomously by the MDSP or a third party provider with accessto that information, or can be provided by the subscriber by uploadingusage information provided them by the MDSP, to the DSS via the SDRS orother means. The SDS is then operable to determine instances when theCMD was used in a potentially distracting manner, by comparing time ofusage of the CMD with times that CMD use may have been distracting,record these instances and related data in the SDD, and provide reportsand alerts to the CMD user, the vehicle owner, insurance companies,federal agencies, or other parties, so as to identify potentiallydistracting use of a CMD by a driver or passenger. These reports may beprovided by email, by text, by web interface or be provided by othermeans. They optionally can include additional information beyondinstance of distracting CMD use, including other relevant information,such as location of distracted use, velocity of the vehicle at the time,severity of the distracted use (such as use on high speed two laneroads), probability of occurrence, etc.

In another embodiment, any means described herein for determining if aCMD is in a vehicle that is in an unsafe state, and therefore should bedisabled or enabled, and any information captured by the SDS and SDD bymeans described herein may be used to report instances of distracted CMDuse as an alternative to disabling the CMD. Additionally, thisinformation can be used in conjunction with disabling the CMD to confirmthat the CMD was effectively disabled by comparing usage informationwith periods of time where the CMD should have been disabled by the SDS.

In embodiments described herein, the above techniques improve theperformance of the SDS by one or more of a) lessening the time lag andimproving the accuracy of determining if a CMD is in use by a driver ofa vehicle, is in use by a passenger of a vehicle, or is not in thevehicle. b) lessening the need for time-consuming, costly, orineffective discernment methods (such as location queries), and c)providing a more accurate record of CMDs that were in a vehicle or inuse by the driver of a vehicle, that when compared with CMD usagerecords as described elsewhere in this description, provide a moreaccurate record of when a CMD was used in a potentially distractingmanner.

FIG. 15 discloses a flowchart of a simplified embodiment of a techniqueperformed by the mobile services control system to optimize the numberof CMDs that are disabled in a vehicle with a VDS so as to lessen theneed for override requests.

Referring to FIG. 15 , the flowchart illustrates a simplified embodimentof the processing for disabling certain CMDs when multiple CMDs are in avehicle that recognizes that distracting CMD use of more prevalent whena driver is alone in the vehicle compared to when there are multiplepeople in a vehicle, and it is possible that they will self police toprevent distracted driving. The system utilized in this embodiment isgenerally described with reference to FIG. 1 .

Determine CMDs associated or registered with the VMD are within thevehicle using techniques included elsewhere in the description (Step1502). Determine if the CMD in the vehicle is associated with a low riskdriver, e.g., a driver that is unlikely to use a CMD in a distractingmanner when others are in the vehicle, and or, is likely to preventothers from using a CMD in a distracting manner in the vehicle they arewithin such as a parent, or in a commercial vehicle, a supervisor (Step1503).

Determine number of other CMDs associated with the VMD in the vehicle(Step 1504). If it is determined only one CMD associated with the VMD isin the vehicle, send disable command (Step 1512), optionally, go to Step1510 to verify if there are more than one CMDs in the vehicle. Theverify step is described herein with reference to FIG. 11B (Step 1108).

If it is determined that there is more than one CMD associated with theVMD in the vehicle, the SDS is operable to determine if any of the CMDsin the vehicle is registered to a low risk driver (Step 1506).

If one or more CMDs are registered to low risk drivers, enable anypreviously disabled CMD associated with the VDS for the remainder of thetrip and exit the process (Step 1514).

If none of the CMDs in the vehicle are registered to low risk drivers,disable all CMDs in the vehicle (Step 1508).

Optionally, continue to determine if CMDs associated with the vehicleare within the vehicle or not in the vehicle (Step 1510), and repeatstep 1504 until all CMDs associated with the vehicle are determined tobe in or out of the vehicle, or it is determined there is are more thanone CMDs within the vehicle and one of the CMDs is registered to a lowrisk driver.

In one embodiment of the above cases, each CMD is able to send anoverride signal wirelessly to the SDS, either through a text message, orthrough some other simple function on the SDS described herein,requesting that the CMD owner is not driving, and requesting the SDS tore-enable potentially distracting functions (Step 1516). The SDS isoperable to enable the CMD (Step 1522), or optionally to determine ifthere are at least two CMDs in the vehicle that have been disabled, sothat on granting the override request, there will remain one CMD that isdisabled, presumably the driver (Step 1518). If there are two CMDsdisabled, go to Step 1522. If there is only one disabled CMD in thevehicle go to Step 1520. On re-enabling these functions, the SDSoptionally can simultaneously send a notification to the owner of thevehicle, or to the subscriber that an override has been received andexecuted. If through these notifications, the owner of the vehicledetermines that this override function is being abused, they have theoptional ability to provide notification to the SDS that overrides shallnot be allowed for that particular CMD without their authorization.

In one embodiment of the invention, it is desired to improve the abilityof the VDS to provide data in real-time that the SDS that the vehicle isin an unsafe state or not, and reduce lags and inaccuracies in theability of the SDS to disable and enable CMDs, as well as to providedata that indicates if a driver of the vehicle has attempted to disablethe VDS.

In one embodiment, the VDS includes elements to improve VDS performancesuch as a) means to sense and transmit information helpful indetermining if a vehicle is in a potentially unsafe state such asbattery voltage, rpm, location and key-on or key-off signals, b) meansto send and receive text (SMS) messages via the MSDS to the SDS, c)means to receive and respond via either SMS or other data transfer meansto queries for specific vehicle information helpful in determining if avehicle is in a potentially unsafe state such as rpm, battery voltage,location, velocity, key on, or key off, d) on-board timers that canconnect or disconnect the wireless connection to the MDSP e) means tosend data intermittently to the MDSP to confirm that the vehiclecontinues to be in an unsafe state or not. and f) means to connect theVDS to the MDSP when the VDP senses motion of the vehicle, key on, orsome other event that indicates that the vehicle may be about to enterinto an unsafe state (Unsafe State Indicator Data, USID).

In one embodiment, the VDS is operable to be in a standby mode where itis not connected to the MDSP but is powered. On recognizing USID data,the VDS is operable to immediately connect to the MDSP, and onconnection to the MDSP, sends an SMS message to the SDS indicating thatthe vehicle may be in an unsafe state, such SMS message being able to betransmitted with a considerably weaker data connection than thatrequired for other data transfer, allowing the VDS to connect to the SDSquickly in cases in which the wireless connection between the VDS andthe SDS is weak (such as in a parking garage, or in the mountains). Themeans for sending the SMS immediately may be accomplished by the SDSsending an SMS query to the VDS while it is in standby mode, that wouldbe automatically responded to when the VDS first connects to the MDSP,or by the firmware on the VDS automatically sending the SMS when itfirst connects to the MDSP. Optionally the data sent to the SDS via SMScan be either a simple flag indicating a possible unsafe state, or bethe transmission of data such as the USID data that when combined withother data, helps the SDS better determine if the vehicle is actually inan unsafe state.

In one embodiment it is desired to enable the SDS to determine the endof a trip in the instance that the end of trip occurs in an area of weakwireless connectivity (such as a parking garage, or in mountainousareas). In this example, the VDS is operable to send an intermittentsignal at a constant interval (for instance every 30 seconds) thattransmits either a flag indicating the vehicle is in a safe, or unsafestate, or transmits USID data that enables the SDS to determine if thevehicle is in a safe or unsafe state. In this example, the SDS isoperable to monitor signals from the VDS, and if it no longer receivessignals at a regular interval for a pre-determined period, the SDSdetermines that the VDS either has ended a trip in an area of weakconnectivity, or has entered an area of weak connectivity for anextended period in which a CMD would also lose connectivity and be lesscapable of distracting a driver. In either case, the SDS then isoperable to send a re-enable command for the CMD until it again receivesdata indicating that the VDS senses a potentially unsafe vehicle stateindicating both the unsafe state and that the vehicle is in a locationwith connectivity that allows potential distracting use of the CMD.Optionally, if the SDS does not receive signals from the VDS over apre-determined period indicating weak wireless connectivity, the SDS isoperable to query the VDS using SMS and the VDS is operable to respondsto that query, providing USID data, or a flag, indicating that thevehicle is in a safe or unsafe state, such SMS transmission being ableto occur in areas of weak connectivity, thereby increasing theeffectiveness of the SDS in being able to determine if the vehicle is inan unsafe state. Alternately, the MDSP can provide data to the SDSindicating that a connection is present between the VDS and the MDSP,the SDS being operable to respond in a similar manner as that describedabove, when the MDSP data indicates that a connection between the VDSand the MDSP has been lost.

In one embodiment of the invention designed to discourage drivers fromdisabling the VDS, the VDS incorporates a rechargeable battery thatprovides sufficient power to maintain a wireless connection to the SDSand provide the SDS a signal that a VDS has been disconnected from thevehicle. The SDS is then operable to disable or partially disable theCMD or CMDs associated with that VDS until such time as the VDS isreconnected, or alternately to provide an alert to the vehicle ownerthat the VDS in that vehicle has been disconnected.

In one embodiment of the invention, it is desired to eliminate the lagtime resulting from the establishment of the handshake connectionbetween the VDS and the MDSP that occurs when the vehicle is turned on.In this embodiment, the wireless connection, is maintained between theVDS and the MDSP while the vehicle is turned off, so that it is notnecessary to establish a handshake connection when the vehicle is turnedon, thereby enabling the SDS to sense when a vehicle is in an unsafestate shortly after the vehicle is turned on. This connection mayoptionally be a limited functionality stand-by mode. Optionally, the VDScan include a timer that will disconnect the VDS to MDSP wirelessconnection after a certain number of hours, to prevent unnecessarybattery drain when the vehicle is parked for multiple days (for instancewhen parked in an airport parking lot).

One embodiment, is directed towards a method for determining if a CMD isin a vehicle by utilizing one or more of velocity, direction ofvelocity, location in order to establish whether a CMD is in a vehicle,without needing location information from CMD and/or VDS. Morespecifically, this embodiment can be utilized with CMDs and VDSs havinglocation and velocity capability. The velocity of a CMD is compared tothe velocity of the VDS to see if it is substantially identical. Also,the direction of CMD is compared to the direction of the VDS to see ifit is substantially identical. Monitor cell tower switching for CMDsindicating motion of CMD SDS utilizes the tower switching to indicate aCMD is moving or not when a VDS is moving. If CMD velocity or directionis substantially identical it indicates that a CMD is in thatparticular. Moreover, if CMD velocity or direction is not substantiallyidentical it indicates that a CMD is not in a particular vehicle. Inaddition, if tower switching indicates CMD motion, while VDS is inmotion, it increases the likelihood that CMD is in vehicle. If no towerswitching then it indicates CMD is not in vehicle.

One embodiment is directed towards a method for determining if a CMD isin a vehicle by using one or more of previous trip and information andstart of trip location and velocity. In this embodiment, locations areidentified where multiple registered drivers may be in a vehicle at tripstart (MCBL) and where a single registered driver may be in the vehicle(SCBL). In one embodiment, these locations may be identified byprovisioning or be reviewing past trip history. If the vehicle startsfrom a location other than a MCBL, disable CMDs that were in theprevious trip, then confirm CMDs in the vehicle through otherverification procedures as described herein. If the vehicle starts froma location that is a MCBL, establish CMDs in the vehicle through varioustechniques described herein and disable CMDs in the vehicle. Evaluatethe last known location of other registered CMDs to determine those thatcould not be in the vehicle at start of trip being located too far fromthe start of trip.

One embodiment is directed towards a method of determining if a CMD isin a vehicle by using one of more of following, provisioned informationassociated with a driver or vehicle or location, driving patterninformation established from previous trip information associated with aspecific CMD, and real time information from a current trip. Real timeinformation during a trip is compared with previous informationassociated with a particular CMD, Vehicle or Driver (profileinformation) and a comparison is made between real time information andprofile information. When real time information is similar to profileinformation, the probability that CMD is in the vehicle is increased.When real time information is dissimilar to profile information, theprobability that CMD is in the vehicle is decreased. In a preferredembodiment, SDS compares the information with other information todetermine overall probability that the CMD is in the vehicle and or ifthe CMD should be disabled. SDS compares this probability with athreshold value to determine if the CMD should be disabled. Presence ofCMDs in vehicle can optionally be confirmed from other techniques suchas location of CMDs versus location of VDS. In one embodiment,information includes information described herein including but notlimited to: information associated with specific portions of a trip(such as a specified period at the beginning or end of a trip), or forspecific locations during a trip (such as behaviors at stop signs, orgeographic locations with specific speed restrictions), data collectedthroughout the trip, acceleration rates, maximum speed, average speed,trip start locations, trip end locations, driving behaviors at stopsigns, driving behaviors during cornering, vehicle route informationduring a portion of the trip, linear acceleration patterns, brakingpatterns, cornering acceleration patterns, rpm vs. location patterns,rpm vs. velocity patterns, rpm patterns, times of day a specific driverhas been determined to be likely to be driving, times of day aparticular driver has been determined to be likely to be driving along acertain route, probability that a driver will be driving a particularvehicle, driver seat position, time to first motion of the vehicle afterkey-on, velocity while in backing up, selection of radio channel, choiceof audio entertainment, key identification data, and any otherinformation able to be captured by the onboard vehicle electronics,other sensors, provisioning or through other techniques that could beunique to a particular driver and/o self ID from driver.

One embodiment is directed towards a method of reducing lags between thetime that a vehicle is in a safe or unsafe state and the ability forsystem to respond and disable CMDs. In this embodiment, using a networkservice, e.g., texting messages (SMS) to connect the VDS to the SDS inareas of weak connectivity, thereby keeping VDS connected to the MDSPwhen the vehicle is off to eliminate lags from connection making.Monitor data from VDS on a regular time interval to determine if vehiclehas ended trip in an area with weak connectivity. Query VDS if state ofvehicle is unknown by SMS to receive vehicle information indicatingstate of vehicle, such as power on, velocity, rpm, battery voltage etc.Monitor VDS MDSP connectivity at MDSP to confirm vehicle state andconnectivity.

One embodiment is directed towards a method of reporting use of a CMD ina distracting situation rather than to disable the CMD, thereforeproviding information that can be used monitor distracted use of the CMDwithout the need for control. In this embodiment, any event is recordthat indicates a CMD is in a vehicle that is in an unsafe state usingtechniques described herein. This recording can include additionalinformation about the unsafe state, e.g., severity of event, etc. Thisinformation is compared with CMD usage records from the MDSP to identifyuses of the CMD while in a vehicle. A report is created to incidences ofCMD usage including associated elements such as location of use,velocity of vehicle etc.

One embodiment is directed towards a simple method of determining theCMD within the vehicle. In this embodiment, CMDs are registered orassociated with a VDS. The CMD owner can to identify that they aredriving, such as text message, phone call, opening an application on aCMD, or performing a function that can be sensed by the VDS andtransmitted to the SDS such as tapping brakes a certain number of times,blinking lights a certain number of times. When an unsafe state isdetermined, and a driver has not been identified, disable all CMDsassociated with that vehicle. When the driver self-identifies enablenon-driver CMDs. Optionally, compare the location of the disabled CMDwith the location of the vehicle to confirm the identity of the driver.

One embodiment is directed towards using self-policing to limit thenumber of CMDs disabled when multiple CMDs are in a vehicle, therebylessening the need for override requests. In this embodiment, identifywhich CMDs are associated with low risk drivers (unlikely to use adistracting CMD with others in the vehicle) as well as CMDs associatedwith high risk drivers (likely to use a distracting CMD with others inthe vehicle. When a single CMD is in the vehicle, disable all CMDs inthe vehicle. When multiple CMDs are in the vehicle and one is a low riskdriver, enable all CMDs. When multiple CMDs are in the vehicle and noneare low risk drivers, disable all CMDs. Optionally, with multiple CMDsdisable in a vehicle, allow all but one CMD to request an override.

One embodiment is directed towards using unique wireless signalstransmitted from the CMD that can be received by the VDS to determine ifa CMD is in a vehicle. In this embodiment, registered CMDs may be usedwithin the vehicle to transmit a Unique Wireless Signal such asBluetooth or other RF signal with a unique identifier. In a preferredembodiment the UWS is the transmission that the CMD utilizes tocommunicate with the MSDP and therefore does not require any additionalRF transmission beyond that required for operation. Optionally the MSDPmay provide information through various means to the VDS to enable it todecrypt the UWS. The registered CMDs are associated to a specific UWS byprovisioning or by the VDS sensing the UWS with the known CMD in thevehicle. When a UWS is received while a vehicle is in an unsafe state, anotification is made that the CMD associated with the UWS should bedisabled. Optionally, the presence of CMDs in the vehicle but with a UWSdisabled can be verified by comparing the location of the CMDs with thelocation of the VDS or other means described herein. Optionally, analert can be sent that a CMD has a disabled UWS, allowing it to beenabled.

One embodiment is directed towards using a unique wireless signaltransmitted from the VNT to the CMD that can be received by the CMD andtransmitted to the MSDP without the need for software on the CMD, orwith minimal software on the CMD, so as to provide information via theMSDP as to the presence of a CMD in a vehicle in an unsafe state,allowing it to be disabled. Registered CMDs may be used within thevehicle. On detecting an unsafe state, the VNT transmits a uniquewireless signal (UWS) including one or more of notice of the unsafestate, vehicle information associated with the unsafe state, the ID ofthe vehicle and the ID of the VDS and VNT. The UWS is able to bereceived by the CMD without any modifications or software, oralternately with minor modifications or software. In a preferredembodiment, the UWS is configured to be received by the CMD andretransmitted to the MSDP as part of normal CMD protocols. In apreferred embodiment frequency of UWS is same as frequency CMD uses tocommunicate with MSDP. In a preferred embodiment, UWS is configured toappear as a cell tower transmission, such as femtocell transmission,with identification information incorporated as an element of the UWS inthe form of cell tower ID information, but in a manner that the CMD doesnot attempt to connect to the VNT as a cell tower. UWS information canthen be transmitted to the MSDP via this cell tower ID information (orby other means). MDSP is operable to decode the UWS to determine vehicleID, CMD ID, state of vehicle, and provide to the system describedherein. The system is operable to combine with other information todetermine if the CMD should be disabled.

In one preferred embodiment where it is desired to provide informationfor other purposes other than controlling a potentially distractingmobile device, a vehicle is equipped with a VDS that is operable tocapture vehicle information for the purposes of establishing a moreaccurate insurance rate for the vehicle and at the same time improvingthe driving behavior of individuals by providing feedback as to theirdriving behavior. In this embodiment the VDS provides data related notonly to the identification of CMDs within the vehicle as describedherein, but optionally can provide one of more of vehicle, driver andCMD information related to evaluating the driving patterns of thevehicle and drivers so as to establish an accurate risk factor for thevehicle for insurance purposes (Insurance Rating Information, IRI), orfor other commercial purposes. In this embodiment, the SDS is operableto capture IRI information provided by the VDS and store it on the SDD,or forward it directly to be used for insurance ratings purposes, whileutilizing information provided by the VDS for disabling CMDs usingtechniques described herein. Alternately, VDS information can becaptured by a third party (for example and insurance company) andinformation necessary for disabling CMDs using techniques describedherein can be provided to the SDS or SDD. In an embodiment, techniquesdescribe herein to determine if a CMD is in a vehicle, if an individualis in a vehicle, or a specific individual is driving, are used todetermine one or more of the occupants of the vehicle during trips, thedriver of the vehicle during trips, the driving behavior of individuals,the amount of driving by a particular individual, and other informationof commercial value related to driving behavior and the identificationof individuals that are passengers or drivers of the vehicles. Thisinformation can then be provided to insurance companies, or commercialvehicle owners, or such companies. to provide driver and vehiclepassenger information that can be used for purposes of establishing moreaccurate insurance rates for that vehicle or individual, or forproviding driving behavior feedback, or for determining favorable orunfavorable individuals or vehicles to insure. In another embodiment,the system and techniques described herein are used exclusively todetermine this information without the incorporation of the elements ofthe system that actually control the potentially disabling electronicdevice.

In one embodiment, the method for capturing events that indicate themobile device is or may be being used in a distracting manner by thedriver can include indications such as the system is engaged or notwhile driving, e.g., game engaged, whether a distracted driving systemhas been overridden (FIG. 15 step 1516), whether distracting events haveoccurred during driving, and whether or not the driver has identifiedthemselves as the driver at some point during the trip through such asidentifying themselves via software on the CMD. The system can transmita message via the CMD that identifies the driver, or combinations. Inone embodiment, the method for identifying the geographic location ofthe unsafe events, including using location capability on VDS 35, or CMD25, or combinations, can be transmitted.

Optionally or alternatively, the method for providing information andscoring on unsafe driving behavior to the driver, the subscriber to thesystem 10, or others electronically, including CMD 25 and User Interface115, includes providing the score in “real time” at the end of the driveto the driver through the CMD. The method can include providingdiscounts, e.g., e-commerce incentives, to a user near a location of theuser at the end of the trip, e.g., using the location of the vehicleprovided by the system. The e-commerce incentives can be generatedautomatically by the system or in combination with partners, such ascompanies that are willing to provide discounts to safe drivers andinclude tangible rewards (such as a discount on a products), potentiallyin real time through the CMD, or through another user interface. Theincentives can also be rewards that are provided to a third party, suchas a charity. In one embodiment, the type of rewards can be selectedfrom a list by the user so as to be highly motivating to improve drivingbehavior, or be previously selected to be highly motivating to aparticular driving demographic and be incoporated into the game based ondemographic information provided by the user during registration.

In one embodiment, the Service Decision System 125 may be operational toconnect with the CMD 25, VDS 35, Mobile Device Service Provider (MDSP)130, Vehicle Service Provider VSP 100, or third-party source withnetwork 60, network 45, data network 90, user interfaces 115 or othermeans to receive the vehicle plus mobile detected information. Thevehicle plus mobile detected information may be received by the ServiceDecision System 125 periodically at set intervals or in a real-timenear-continuous stream of data. Referring now to FIG. 16 , a high levelflowchart illustrates some of the steps in the service decision engineto generate a score based on predetermined parameters.

In this embodiment, the Safe Driving Registration System 105 (FIG. 1 )is configured through one or more of the User Interfaces 115 (by aperson and/or an automated input) with information specific tofunctionality of the game including game parameters, awards, discounts,and information specific to a user and/or a plurality of users, whereinthe information includes: (i) game parameters for determining awards,discounts, and score, (ii) associations with other users or groups,and/or (iii) at least one primary operator of vehicle 15, or if multipleoperators are scheduled for the vehicle, information specifying thetimes that a specific one of the operators will be operating the vehicle15. Additionally, the Safe Driving Registration System 105 is provided(e.g., via a User Interface 115) with CMD information identifying whichCMD 25 or CMDs 25 are associated with each of the operator(s), as wellas information as to what incoming and outgoing calls, text messages orother information should be allowed for emergency use or otherwise whileservices to such CMD(s) are being controlled by the mobile servicescontrol system 10. Note that in this embodiment, the vehicle 15incorporates a Vehicle Detection System (VDS) 30 that may or may notincorporate a Detection Engine 300 since the requirement you detect thelocation or position of an operator's CMD 25 within the vehicle occupantenclosure 20 may not be necessary.

Referencing FIG. 1 and the flowchart in FIG. 16 , in step 1600, theService Decision System 125 (and optionally Safe Driving RegistrationSystem 105) receives vehicle plus mobile detected information. Thisvehicle plus mobile detected information is used to calculate a scorebased (1605) on game parameters received from the Safe DrivingRegistration System 105. In one embodiment, the score is configured topromote safe driving behavior. The score includes one or more scores andcan also be associated with awards, tokens (e.g., graphical pins andbadges), and discounts (e.g., insurance discounts, e-commerce discounts,store discounts within a predetermined geographical distance, e.g., 5miles or less based on CMD location, or VDS location, and monetaryrewards). Various program logic can be used to calculate one or morescores, or generate one or more awards, or generate one or morediscounts, and combinations of the same based on the one or more scoreswith the vehicle plus mobile detected information. The program logic ispredetermined or provided real time via the system 10 (e.g., userinterfaces 115). In one embodiment, the program logic is configured todetermine the number of segments for the trip (e.g., calculated byequation: (minutes driven/predetermined segment minutes), thepredetermined segment minutes may be any number greater than 1, e.g., 10minutes, number of perfect segments (e.g., perfect driving streakcalculated) and/or other desired scores configured to modify or motivatedriving behavior (e.g., tokens, badges awarded on good driving, fuelefficient driving, etc.). Alternatively, the segments may be measured indistance driven rather than time driven, or a combination of time anddistance to compensate for long trips at a slow speed, or short trips athigh speed. The SDS 125 can also be configured to calculate bonuses,e.g., if a user self IDs, that is, notifies the system that they are theuser of the vehicle 15. This may be done by a number of different ways,e.g., with the CMD 25, or VDS 35, or texting, or calling a number, orseat position, or flashing the lights on the vehicle or some otherindication that a particular individual is driving the vehicle. That is,the user, subscriber or third-party can specify a predetermined way toidentify the user. The bonuses may be any type of bonus, e.g., increasedscore percentage, awards, discounts, combinations of the same and thelike. In one embodiment, one or more of the following can be generatedor obtained by the system, including but not limited to a total bonuscalculated by summing all bonuses, a basic score calculated by equation(number of perfect driving x predetermined number (e.g., 1000), a totalscore calculated by equation (basic score X total bonus), an averagescore per segment per user, or per team, or per social group andcombinations, a cumulative score per segment/mile, and/or a driving timeper segment. In addition, one or more of the following can be generatedor obtained by the system, including but not limited to a distance andmiles, number of braking events (hard braking or excessive braking)above a predetermined g-force number with or without location of theevent, a number of hard turn events (hard corners or excessivecornering) above a predetermined g-force number with or without locationof the event, a number of acceleration events above a predeterminedlimit, varations in speed indicative of distracted driving, whether oneor more disabled service was overridden (e.g., CMD User Override),number of times above the speed limit with or without location isdetermined with system 10, and/or other information indicating fueleconomy of vehicle is presented in a score. In one embodiment, thescore, or bonuses, or rewards, or discounts and/or combinations can becalculated with predetermined rules or programs provided by a user, or asubscriber and/or a third-party to the Safe Driving Registration System105. Optionally or alternatively, the incentive is configured to rewardsequential periods of safe driving by providing a multiplier to the basescore such that for an individual who has a history of sequential safedriving, the point score increases more rapidly, further incentivizingsafe driving.

The service decision engine may receive vehicle plus mobile detectedinformation from one or more of CMD 25, VDS 35, and external inputsoutside the vehicle. The information may be provided in real time, atpredetermined intervals or after use of the vehicle 15. If the vehicle15 is not in operation (as determined in step 710) the service decisionengine 600 sends an enable services directive to either the MDSP 130 orthe SDRS 110, depending on how it is configured (disclosed in FIG. 1 ).Conversely, if the vehicle is in operation (as determined in step 710)and the option to check for CMD 25 positioning relative to therestricted zone (step 715) is off, then the service decision engine 600sends a disable services directive (step 725) to either the MDSP 130 orthe SDRS 110. Alternately, if the vehicle 15 is in operation (asdetermined in step 710), the option to check for CMD positioning is on(step 715), and the CMD 25 is within the restricted zone of the vehicle(as determined in step 720), then the service decision engine 600 sendsa disable services directive in step 725, or if the CMD is outside therestricted zone, then the service decision engine 600 sends an enableservices directive in step 730. Regardless, after the service decisionengine 600 sends the appropriate enable/disable service directive, itwaits a predetermined amount of time in step 700 (e.g., a minute or two,or perhaps even seconds) before repeating the process and receivingupdated vehicle plus mobile detected information in step 705. Theservice directive may specify individual services, direct all services(except emergency response services), direct disabling the battery onthe CMD (which in turn, would prevent operation of the CMD), directlydisable all functions on the CMD, or send a warning message to the userof the CMD and/or to the subscriber.

In step 1605, the Service Decision System 125 (and optionally the SafeDriving Registration System 105) received vehicle is configured tooutput the incentive including one of a score, or rewards, or bonus, ordiscounts and combinations of the same to the CMD 25, VDS 35, userinterface 115, social media, portal, internet, subscriber, operator, orthird party. In this embodiment, the output is done with the system 10over a network (e.g., wireless network 45, wireless network 65, datanetwork 90, other network or combinations therein). The output to theCMD 25 may be substantially instantaneous after the trip or at anypredetermined time after the trip, e.g., when instantaneous, at key offof the vehicle 15. Outputs may include multimedia, sound, video andcombinations thereof. In one embodiment, upon key off an incentive isaudibly generated by the SDS 125 in step 1605 and sent to a CMD 25and/or vehicle 15 to provide relatively instant feedback to the user.Moreover, the output may be sent via an application on the CMD 25 orother device accessible via internet to a graphical user display (e.g.,in one embodiment as described with reference to FIGS. 18-20 herein),social medial, stored in a database of SDRS 105, and/or other outputs.These outputs can be predetermined to include emails, SMS, texts and thelike.

Referencing FIG. 1 and the flowchart in FIG. 17A, in step 1700, theService Decision System 125 (and optionally the Safe DrivingRegistration System 105) receives one or more inputs including vehicleplus mobile detected information. This information may be provided aftera vehicle trip or by any system including a CMD 25 and a vehicle 15,e.g., a third party system. In step 1705 a driver ID is determined asdescribed previously via the associated information, or the driver IDmay be self identified, or may be identified by another technique asknown in the art. The CMD 25, or the SDS 125, or combinations thereof isconfigured to determine whether any restricted service on the CMD hasbeen overridden, (e.g., CMD User Override). An incentive is generated instep 1715, e.g., a score, or a reward, or a discount, or a token, andcombinations thereof. Next, in step 1720, an output may be sent via anapplication on the CMD 25 or other device accessible via internet to agraphical user display (e.g., in one embodiment as described withreference to FIGS. 18-20 herein), social medial, stored in a database ofSDRS 105, and/or other outputs.

In one embodiment, the incentive, e.g., score, and method can include amethod for capturing unsafe driving events that can include swerving,excessive speed, abrupt braking either wirelessly from the vehicle, orfrom a mobile device associated with the driver utilizing the VehicleDetection System (VDS) 35.

In one embodiment, the service decision engine 125 is configured todetermine when a vehicle is moving, who the are passengers in thevehicle are and who is the driver of the vehicle 15; receive inputs fromthe vehicle 15 or CMD 15; and determine the location and occurrence ofunsafe events. The SDS 125 determines a score for the driver using thesystem 10, as well as calculates other data that will improve theefficacy of the system to modify driving behavior. Optionally oralternatively, the incentives, e.g., score, may be generated on a gameengine external to the system, (e.g., FIG. 1, 10 ), or on the CMD 25, orVDS 35, or in any combination.

FIGS. 18-20 illustrates an exemplary embodiments with regard to agraphical outputs of various screen shots of the game. In thisembodiment, the screen shots 1800, 1900, and 2000 may include web portalscreen shots and/or CMD application screen shots. These arerepresentative examples of outputs, e.g., steps 1610 and 1720.

Referring now in detail to FIG. 18 , the screen shot 1800 may be a homescreen of the application, e.g., game. This can be visible to the user,subscriber and/or third-party. It includes a picture 1805 of the user orsymbol that can be provided to the SDRS 105 and stored in the SDD 110. Areal time status 1810 (e.g., I'm Driving Now, or other programmabletext) of the user can be displayed. A most recent trip identifier 1815is shown to indicate or associate the most recent trip incentive, e.g.,scores. For example, the score can include any as described herein andin this embodiment includes a last trip total 1820, bonus 1830,discounts 1835 and rewards 1840. The discounts 1835 and rewards 1840 canbe automatically generated by matching the current location of the user,available discounts and rewards, and preferences of the user orsubscriber. A game total section 1845 includes a user's game total forthe year or other predefined time period. In this embodiment, thesection includes game total points 1850, game total score 1855, teamscore 1860, e.g., a summary of other users selected or assigned to theteam, one or more tokens 1865, rewards 1870, and discounts 1875.Optionally or alternatively, the rewards 1870 and/or discounts 1875display may include the number of points required to earn the nextreward or discount.

Optionally or alternatively, one or more of the items may includeoutputting to social media to allow broad dissemination as well asenable different forms of games, competitions and rewards forindividuals or teams. The data may also include scoring the drivingbehavior of the driver based on the number of unsafe events during adrive and be presented to the driver as a game that optionally may allowother drivers' scores to be compared for the purposes of competition,such as scoring changing the behaviors of the drivers from the desire toimprove the score.

Referring now in detail to FIG. 19 , the screen shot 1900 may be adetailed last trip screen of the application, e.g., game. This can bevisible to the user, subscriber and/or third-party. It includes apicture 1905 of the user or symbol that can be provided to the SDRS 105and stored in the SDD 110, a user name 1910, and other usercharacteristics 1915 (e.g., phone number, email, and the like), and atrip information 1940 identifier (e.g., description of trip, or name oftrip). The screen shot 1900 can also include the score as describedherein and in this embodiment includes indication of segments driven1925; indication of segments over maximum speed 1930; indication ofsegments over the speed limit 1935; indication of corners exceeding apredetermined g-force 1945; indication of number of hard brakingexceeding a predetermined g-force 1950; indication of CMD User Override1955; an indication of a texting disabled event 1960 and an indicationof associated bonus 1987; an indication of whether the user provided aself-identification at the trip (e.g., during, before, and/or after thetrip) and an indication of associated bonus 1990; and an indication ofnumber of segments driven 1970 and an indication of associated bonus1992. In one embodiment, the indications may include any combination ofalpha numeric text, or a whole number, or a fraction number, or a coloror combination of primary colors, or a graphic, or a combination of oneor more of the same. It is noted that any incentive may be displayed inthis screen and these are shown merely as an illustrative embodiment.Optionally or alternatively, one or more of the items in screen shot1900 may be output to social media to allow broad dissemination as wellas enable different forms of games, competitions and rewards forindividuals or teams. The data may also include scoring the drivingbehavior of the driver based on the number of unsafe events during adrive and be presented to the driver as a game that optionally may allowother drivers scores to be compared for the purposes of competition,such scoring changing the behaviors of the drivers from the desire toimprove the score.

Referring now in detail to FIG. 20 , the screen shot 2000 may be adetailed summary of the user's last trip, or total trips over apredetermined time. The screen shot 2000 also includes a comparisonsection 2065 of other team members, highest ranking drivers, selectedfriends and/or other users. This screen shot 2000 can be visible to theuser, subscriber and/or a third-party. It includes a picture 2000 of theuser or symbol that can be provided to the SDRS 105 and stored in theSDD 110, a user name 2010, and other user characteristics 2015 (e.g.,phone number, email, and the like) and a trip information identifier2020 (e.g., description of trip, or name of trip). The screen shot 2000can also include the score as described herein and in this embodimentincludes indication of segments driven 2025, indication of segments overmaximum speed 2030, indication of segments over speed limit 2035,indication of corners exceeding predetermined g-force 2040, indicationof number of hard braking exceeding a predetermined g-force 2045,indication of CMD User Overrride 2050, an indication of total of points2055, and an indication of rewards, discounts, advertisements 2060 orany combination. In one embodiment, the indications may include anycombination of hyperlinks to a separate webpage, or document, alphanumeric text, or a whole number, or a fraction number, or a color orcombination of primary colors, or a graphic, or a combination of one ormore of the same. Section 2065 includes data, e.g., scoring, indicativeof behavior of the driver based on the number of unsafe events during adrive in which the score is presented to the driver as a game thatoptionally may allow other drivers scores to be compared for thepurposes of competition, such as scoring changing the behaviors of thedrivers from the desire to improve the score. In this embodiment, thesection 2065 includes an indication of the group 2070 (e.g., companyname, sport's team name, etc.), a picture or graphic of a team member2082, an indication of score 2072, an indication of rank 2074, a pictureor graphic of the next team member 2094, an indication of score 2090associated with member 2094, an indication of rank 2092 associated withmember 2094, and optionally other members (not shown). Indication 2076may include all time highest ranking users, or team members or the like.In this embodiment, a picture or graphic of a team member 2081, anindication of score 2078, an indication of rank 2080, a picture orgraphic of the next associated member 2088, an indication of score 2084associated with member 2088, an indication of rank 2086 associated withmember 2088, and optionally other members (not shown). Optionally oralternatively, one or more of the items my include outputting to socialmedia to allow broad dissemination as well as enable different forms ofgames, competitions and rewards for individuals or teams.

While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been describedin detail, it is apparent that modifications and alterations of thoseembodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. However, it is to beexpressly understood that such modifications and alterations are withinthe scope and spirit of the present disclosure, as set forth in thefollowing claims.

The foregoing discussion of the disclosure has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intendedto limit the disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. In theforegoing Detailed Description for example, various features of thedisclosure are grouped together in one or more embodiments for thepurpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is notto be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed disclosurerequires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than allfeatures of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the followingclaims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with eachclaim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of thedisclosure.

Moreover, though the present disclosure has included description of oneor more embodiments and certain variations and modifications, othervariations and modifications are within the scope of the disclosure,e.g., as may be within the skill and knowledge of those in the art,after understanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtainrights which include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted,including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures,functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or not suchalternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publiclydedicate any patentable subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system configured for modifying a behavior of avehicle operator, the system comprising: an electronic transponderdevice, comprising: a battery module; an accelerometer module configuredto generate motion data indicative of one or more of a vibration, amovement, and an acceleration of the electronic transponder device; amemory module configured to store at least a portion of the motion data;a controller electrically connected to the accelerometer module, thememory module, and the battery module, the controller being configuredto establish a communication link to a controllable mobile device usinga short-range wireless communication protocol, send informationindicative of an electronic transponder identification to thecontrollable mobile device, receive the motion data from theaccelerometer module as received motion data, transmit the receivedmotion data to the memory module wherein the memory module is configuredto store at least a portion of the received motion data as stored motiondata, receive from the controllable mobile device information indicativeof an identification of the controllable mobile device, receive from thememory module at least a portion of the stored motion data as retrievedmotion data, and transmit, using the established communication link, atleast a portion of the retrieved motion data, wherein the electronictransponder device is configured to be affixed to a portion of apassenger compartment of a vehicle; a network-based data processingsystem comprising a data storage system, the network-based dataprocessing system being configured to receive data from the controllablemobile device; and at least one electronic processor electricallyconnected to the data storage system, the at least one electronicprocessor being configured to receive the information indicative of theelectronic transponder identification, receive first data includinginformation indicative of at least one of a global position system (GPS)information from the controllable mobile device, and informationindicative of a use of the controllable mobile device in a distractivemanner, receive second data including information indicative of theretrieved motion data, wherein the first data and the second data arereceived in a single data communication or in multiple datacommunications, and wherein the multiple data communications arereceived by the at least one electronic processor at varying timeintervals, determine using at least one or more of the informationindicative of the electronic transponder identification and theinformation indicative of an identification of the controllable mobiledevice and an identity of the vehicle operator, determine using at leastthe first data and the second data an incentive using the first data andthe second data, and communicate the incentive to the controllablemobile device.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the incentive isassociated with an insurance discount.
 3. The system of claim 1, whereinthe incentive is associated with one or more of discounted merchandise,free merchandise, services, and a donation that can be given to thirdparty specified by the vehicle operator.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the controllable mobile device is further configured to displaya list of selectable incentives on a display screen, receive, via thedisplay screen, a selection of a selected incentive out of the list ofselectable incentives, and transmit information indicative of theselected incentive to the network-based data processing system; and theat least one electronic processor is further configured to receive theinformation indicative of the selected incentive.
 5. The system of claim1, wherein the at least one electronic processor is further configuredto use the identity of the vehicle operator to identify a plurality ofusers that are organized into a team, and communicate to thecontrollable mobile device a ranking of the vehicle operator againstrankings of other users in the team, wherein the ranking of the vehicleoperator is at least partially determined by a score based the firstdata and second data, wherein the information indicative of the use ofthe controllable mobile device in the distractive manner includesinformation indicative of one or more of a use of the controllablemobile device, overriding a system of the controllable mobile devicethat controls distracting use of the controllable mobile device, and oneor more events indicative of distracted driving behaviors.
 6. The systemof claim 1, wherein the incentive comprises one or more of an intangibleaward and a tangible award.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein theintangible award comprises one or more of badges, personal score, teamscore, and leader board rank.
 8. A system configured for modifying abehavior of a vehicle operator, the system comprising: a controllablemobile device, comprising: an accelerometer module configured togenerate motion data indicative of an acceleration of the controllablemobile device; a memory module configured to store at least a portion ofthe motion data; a controller electrically connected to theaccelerometer module and the memory module, the controller beingconfigured to receive the motion data from the accelerometer module asreceived motion data, and communicate at least a portion of the receivedmotion data, wherein the controllable mobile device is configured to bedisposed within a passenger compartment of a vehicle; a network-baseddata processing system comprising a data storage system, thenetwork-based data processing system being configured to receive datafrom the controllable mobile device; and at least one electronicprocessor electrically connected to the data storage system, the atleast one electronic processor being configured to receive first dataincluding information indicative of a global position system (GPS)information from the controllable mobile device, receive second dataincluding the portion of the received motion data, receive third dataindicative of a use of the controllable mobile device in a distractivemanner, wherein the first data, the second data, and the third data arereceived in a single data communication or in multiple datacommunications from the controllable mobile device, determine using atleast one or more of the first data and the second data, an identity ofthe vehicle operator, determine using at least one or more of the firstdata, the second data and the third data, a score, determine a rewardbased on the score, and communicate the reward and the score to thecontrollable mobile device.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the rewardis associated with an insurance discount.
 10. The system of claim 8,wherein the reward is associated with one or more of discountedmerchandise, free merchandise, services, and a donation that can begiven to third party specified by the vehicle operator.
 11. The systemof claim 8, wherein the controllable mobile device is further configuredto display a list of selectable reward on a display screen, receive, viathe display screen, a selection of a selected reward out of the list ofselectable rewards, and transmit information indicative of the selectedreward to the network-based data processing system.
 12. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the data storage system stores a plurality of driverbehavior pattern profiles, each driver behavior pattern profile of theplurality of driver behavior pattern profiles being associated with adriver and the at least one electronic processor is further configuredto determine, using at least the first data, an identity of the vehicleoperator comprising: determining a driver behavior pattern of thevehicle operator by processing the first data and the second data todetermine a trip start location, a trip end location vehicle, routeinformation, and time of day; identify a first driver behavior patternprofile of the plurality of driver behavior pattern profiles thatmatches the driver behavior pattern of the vehicle operator; anddetermining that the identity of the vehicle operator is the same as theidentity of the driver associated with the first driver behavior patternprofile.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein the information indicativeof the use of the controllable mobile device in the distractive mannerincludes information indicative of one or more of a physical interactionwith the controllable mobile device by the vehicle operator, overridingof a system of the controllable mobile device that controls distractinguse of the controllable mobile device, and one or more events indicativeof distracted driving behaviors.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein theone or more events indicative of distracted driving behaviors includestexting while a vehicle is in operation, making a phone call while avehicle is in operation, internet use while the vehicle is in operation,and social media use while the vehicle is in operation.
 15. A computerprogram product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium for modifying a behavior of a vehicle operator comprisingcomputer code that, when executed by at least one electronic processor,causes the at least one electronic processor to perform stepscomprising: receiving information indicative of an electronictransponder identification; receiving first data including informationindicative of at least one of a global position system (GPS) informationfrom a controllable mobile device, and information indicative of vehicleoperator interaction with the controllable mobile device or use of thecontrollable mobile device in a distractive manner; receiving seconddata including information indicative of motion data, wherein the firstdata and the second data are received in a single data communication orin multiple data communications, and wherein the multiple datacommunications are received by the at least one electronic processor atvarying time intervals; determining using information indicative of theelectronic transponder identification an identity of the vehicleoperator; determining using at least the first data and the second dataan incentive; and communicating the incentive to the controllable mobiledevice.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein thenon-transitory computer-readable medium resides on the controllablemobile device or a network.
 17. The computer program product of claim15, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprises anarticle of manufacture.
 18. The computer program product of claim 15,wherein the incentive is associated with an insurance discount.
 19. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, wherein the incentive isassociated with one or more of discounted merchandise, free merchandise,services, and a donation that can be given to third party specified by auser.
 20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computercode, when executed by at least one electronic processor, further causesthe at least one electronic processor to perform steps comprising: usingthe identity of the vehicle operator to identify a plurality of usersthat are organized into a team; and communicating to the controllablemobile device a ranking of the vehicle operator against rankings ofother users in the team, wherein the ranking of the vehicle operator isat least partially determined by a score based on the first data and thesecond data.
 21. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein theinformation indicative of the use of the controllable mobile device inthe distractive manner includes information indicative of one or more ofa use of the controllable mobile device, overriding a system of thecontrollable mobile device that controls distracting use of thecontrollable mobile device, and one or more events indicative ofdistracted driving behaviors.
 22. A computer program product embodied ona non-transitory computer readable storage medium for modifying abehavior of a vehicle operator comprising computer code that, whenexecuted by at least one electronic processor, causes the at least oneelectronic processor to perform steps comprising: receiving first dataincluding information indicative of a global position system (GPS)information from a controllable mobile device; receiving second dataincluding a portion of motion data; receiving third data indicative of ause of the controllable mobile device in a distractive manner, whereinthe first data, the second data, and the third data are received in asingle data communication or in multiple data communications from thecontrollable mobile device; determining, using at least one of the firstdata and the second data, an identity of the vehicle operator;determining, using at least the second data and the third data, at leastone or more of a tangible reward and intangible reward; andcommunicating the at least one or more of the tangible reward and theintangible reward to the controllable mobile device.
 23. The computerprogram product of claim 22, wherein the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium resides on the controllable mobile device or anetwork.
 24. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein thenon-transitory computer-readable medium comprises an article ofmanufacture.
 25. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein thetangible reward is associated with an insurance discount.
 26. Thecomputer program product of claim 22, wherein the tangible reward isassociated with one or more of discounted merchandise, free merchandise,services, and a donation that can be given to third party specified bythe vehicle operator.
 27. The computer program product of claim 22,wherein the computer code, when executed by at least one electronicprocessor, further causes the at least one electronic processor toperform steps comprising: determining a driver behavior pattern of thevehicle operator by processing the first data and the second data todetermine a trip start location, a trip end location vehicle, routeinformation, and time of day; identify a first driver behavior patternprofile of a plurality of driver behavior pattern profiles stored in adata storage system accessible to the at least one electronic processorthat matches the driver behavior pattern of the vehicle operator; anddetermining that the identity of the vehicle operator is the same as anidentity of a driver associated with the first driver behavior patternprofile.
 28. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein theinformation indicative of the use of the controllable mobile device inthe distractive manner includes information indicative of one or more ofa physical interaction with the controllable mobile device by thevehicle operator, overriding of a system of the controllable mobiledevice that controls distracting use of the controllable mobile device,and one or more events indicative of distracted driving behaviors. 29.The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the one or more eventsindicative of driving behaviors includes an identification of a numberof excessive cornering events, a number of excessive braking events,speeding events, or a number of excessive acceleration events.